


The Guards

by RuiLya



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Dragons, Fire dragon Keith, Galra are evil, Jealous Keith (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Siblings, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Shapeshifting, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Water dragon Lance, Witch Pidge | Katie Holt, half-Galra Keith, it gets a little gory, only dragons have soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-06-24 08:49:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15627114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuiLya/pseuds/RuiLya
Summary: About the story, basically Allura is being kidnapped by the Galra and Lance goes out to rescue her. Along the way he meets a fiery red dragon and some weird humans. Even thougt the elders send him off with good advices Lance wouldnt be Lance if he didn't ignore all of them. Never make friends, don't approach humans, don't fall in love ... yeah who cares, right?





	1. Prolog

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome ~
> 
> This is the Dragon Fantasy AU fanfic with bad english translation nobody asked for .... so i'm sorry about this ... or am i really?  
> Er, so till someone has mercy on me and be my english betareader your all stuck with google translate and my sloppy english grammar skills.
> 
> You're being here means the summary couldn't scare you off. Well, thank you.
> 
> This is my first ff in years, literally and my first Voltron ff altogether, so please go easy on me. ;)  
> Also i'm desperately in need of an english beta reader ... do you feel like i'm talkin to you? Ok, then pleeeease contact me. (aqua_yumi@web.de)
> 
> I have an rough draft of the story but it isn't quite finished yet, so if anyone would like to put some ideas in you are welcome to do so.
> 
> Enough for now ... please enjoy the prolog

It was an hot summer day and the water was pleasantly cool.

Lance was supposed to train or learn, but it was way too warm to be diligent. Instead he kept watch over the island.

Or rather he swam around the island and enjoyed the cool water. Oriande was far from any civilization in the middle of the ocean. So it hardly ever happened that someone got lost here.

Lance loved the ocean and his home Oriande above all, especially on days like today when the full beauty of the place was revealed. The coral reef shimmered in bright colors and the sunlight breaking through the waves let Lances scales glitter in the most beautiful shades of blue. Schools of fish passed by, sometimes he moved with tem and sometimes chased them around to pass the time.

It was around lunchtime when Lance got company. It was unusual that someone bothered him during his watch.

He took his attackstance until he realized that the figure had no legs, but like he himself had a long scaly tail. When he looked closely he recognized curly brown hair, a free upper body and the dark deep blue of the scales and finally recognized his sister Veronica. Normally he  saw his family in the afternoon after work, so he swam to her joyfully.

Only a few yards away, he could see Victoria's agitated face and a queasy feeling spread in his guts.

"Lance, it's awful!" She exclaimed. Her voice sounded panicked.

Lance, who had arrived beside her stroked her shoulder reassuringly. She was shaking terribly.

"Shhh, Roni ... what happened?" He asked worriedly.

"They got Princess Allura ..." she sniffed "The Galra have Lura!"

It had to be a bad joke.

Lance thoughts raced - it was pure horror.

If the Galra had Allura, the Princess of the Alteans, then they were all in danger. The Galra had wanted to subdue the Alteans for ages, hunting, killing and enslaving them. Alteans had become rare and those with strong powers like Princess Allura's even more. If the Galra got her to use her power for their purposes, then ...

No!

Lance didn‘t  want to think about that.

Allura was strong. She would not submit easily.

Lance shook off his dark thoughts and looked at his sister. In times like these the clans of the Alteans had to stand together and he knew what that meant to him, the guardian of the McClain clan.

He hugged his sister and tried to sound confident.

"I promise you, I'll get Lura back. This is my job as a guardian and as her friend. "

Alone at the thought of Allura's captivity Lance shuddered. He remembered their childhood together. At that time Princess Allura and her parents had often visited the outer islands. Especially Oriande, as it had the largest library of the Alteans and her father was happy to consult the scholars of the island. During the long visits, little Allura had become friends with Lance and his siblings, they had spent hours in the ocean and on the island. When Alfor, Allura's dad died a few years ago, Lance became the guardian of Oriande. He had not hesitated a second to swear loyalty to his childhood friend. With that he received the honorable task of protecting his clan and the island from evil and helping her in times of need. For Alteans this was a highly respected position but for him it meant he was able to protect his family and friends.

When Allura fell into the hands of the galra, it was his job to free her.

The bright light and shallow waters on the shore brought Lance back from his thoughts to reality.

Veronica and Lance transformed themselves into their human shapes and hurried back to the village.

Everyone was already gathered in the village square and they were already waiting for the two. Lance's mother looked worriedly at him, knowing that the task ahead would not be easy for him. As the head of the McClain clan she was obliged to send him off even if it was not easy for her as his mother. With a wave of her hand  she silenced the assembled mob of McClains.

"My dear family, as most of you have already noticed, a swordfish has arrived to inform us that our beloved Princess Allura has fallen into the hands of the Galra ..."

A horrified whisper went through the crowd before she could continue. Some had already heard the news, others were completely taken by surprise, but everyone was equally horrified. A swordfish was one of the fastest messengers, but it meant that the princess had been kidnapped at least two days ago.

"She was ambushed and her bodyguards killed." She swallowed.

"If they manage to subdue the princess our race is lost. We have sworn our loyality to her and she has access to the life energy of each and every one of us. "

That was the truth short and painful to the point.

Silence spread over the place. It was a reality that none of them wanted to imagine. If they wanted the Galra they could wipe out all the remaining Alteans with Allura. If she was not freed, it looked kinda bad for her kind.

Mama McClain cleared her throat.

"Each clan will send its guard on the journey to free the princess. Our only hope is that the Galra are apparently unaware of who they caught. They consider her a normal Altean woman with strong powers. Let's hope it stays that way until the five guards can free her. "

She looked directly at Lance.

"Lance, my boy ... as out guardian you have been trained in the art of combat. So far you've been protecting our clan from outside threats, but now is the time to leave and bring Princess Allura back. "

Lance had a fat lump in his throat.

He knew it was inevitable, he would have to go to the mainland and leave his family behind. He shuddered at the thought of being alone. He was used to have the familiar faces of his big family around him. He didn’t  like to be alone.

When he would be on the mainland, he had to hide his shape, his origins and act like a human being. If he did not succeed, he would certainly fall into the hands of the Galra and the chances of Allura's return would be bad.

There was already  too much responsibility on his shoulders.

When he became a guardian, he never thought that such a situation would ever come because their island was small and miles away from any mainland, it was extremely rare that someone dangerous strayed there. Now the day had arrived when he had to use his training seriously.

 

In a few hours he had everything together. His crossbow, his short sword, supplies for the journey and clothes to disguise himself as a human.

The clan elders supplied him with an Ancient Map of the lands beyond the ocean and with many well-intentioned advices.

"Do not approach the human citys."

"Do not make friends, the danger of discovery is too great."

"Watch out for Galra patrols."

"Do not start flirting or fall in love."

"Always focus on your task."

 

The entire clan had gathered at the beach. Tearfully, Lance bid farewell to his family with the promise of returning safe. He already knew that he would be terribly homesick and with a last look back he jumped into the water. This time he shift his shape fully, but even in this form the journey to the mainland would take days.


	2. The Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance reached the mainland but nothing goes as planned...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank for returning to the first chapter ;)
> 
> WARNING: description of violence and a little gory 
> 
> So if you not one for violence just skip the fighting scene

Even fully transformed and with maximum speed, it had taken Lance four days to reach the mainland.

He reached the shore exhausted and shook the salty water from his scales.

It was too dangerous to stay in his present form. Lance had no idea where he was exactly and how far the next human settlement was away.

The Alteans hid from the Galra for so many years that the humans considered water dragons a myth from ancient times, but Lance knew he had to be careful. There were myths that should stay myths. Myths are exactly what protects his people and yet Lance stood in his shape as a water dragon on the beach looking around and let the sun dry his scales.

He shrank the floating skin between his claws and buried his four paws in the warm sand. At the same time he stretched his long neck towards the sun and closed his sparkling blue eyes to savor the warm feeling. From his sun-directed snout to the scaly tail that still hung in the water, he counted nearly ten feet. He was proud of his size, not many water dragons his age were already that big.

Lance stretched the fins on his sides to relax them from the hardships of the long journey and let the sun shine on his scales for a moment. The color of his scales was hard to describe for an outsider, because they shimmered in so many different shades of blue, it was breathtaking.

Just as the dragon gathered his concentration to change his shape, he heard a startled gasp to his right.

Quickly his head moved in the direction of the sound and with wide eyes he recognized a human being.

The being was a human woman with honey-blonde hair staring frightened at him with her eyes wide-open.

 

~~~

 

"Wa ... Water Dragon" she breathed and looked at him in disbelief.

That just couldn’t be. Everyone knew that water dragons were creatures from ancient legends and yet here stood one before her. Every child knew that the Galra was hunting for water dragons, but all the people in their village thought the Galra were crazy. She herself thought so. After all, no water dragon has been spotted for decades … no, even centuries.

The creature in front of her was definitely a dragon.

A giant being in blue and staring back at her.

She shuddered.

Her body drove her to escape, but her curiosity kept her in place. So she stood rooted to the beach and continued to stare at the strange creature.

 

~~~

 

Lance was the first of the two who caught himself and quit gawking.

He had to calm down.

She was just a human.

There weren’t more humans nearby.

No settlement seemed to be in sight and no enemy armada lurking around.

His first thought was to neutralize the situation. The human woman was afraid of him, he could tell by how tense her body was ... ready to escape.

But if she fled and told other people about him, he would lose his disguise before he even started his mission. He did not want to kill her, she couldn’t  have predictet him crawling out of the sea in front of her. She was innocent.

Tob e less threatening he concentrated and transformed his shape into that of a human.

 

~~~

 

The dragon in front of her was suddenly surrounded by a gleaming, light blue light, so she had to reflexively close her eyes and when she looked back there was a young man on the beach instead of the dragon.

His skin was darker in color and his brown hair curled around his face cheekily. He wore dark blue harem pants with pale blue wave patterns and a matching top that revealed his navel. His feet dug barefoot into the soft sand and a short sword dangled from his side.

In that form, the dragon was not threatening at all, yet she did not dare to relax. Banned she held out what the dragon would do now.

~~~  
  
The human woman was still watching him. Lance wondered if it was his look. Irritated, he looked down at himself. No, that was what they traditionally wore on the island, if anything foreign to the woman but not disturbing. He wore clothes of light cloth, no armor. He didn’t need armor. Even in the human shape he was in his skin was a lot harder than that of an human being. Except for the clothes he only had his jewelry on him. The wide gold cuffs around his wrists were traditional jewelry that marked him as a guardian, they were studded with blue gems and coral representing the insignia of his clan, but for a human, they had to look like normal jewelry. Maybe she was worried about the sword at his side. He grabbed his linen bag and hung it over his shoulder before approaching the woman carefully.

  
As he arrived before the human woman he looked at her unsure what to do. He never thought that as soon as he arrived he would be discovered by a human.  
' _That could not have gone any better…_ ' he thought sarcastically. Of course, the elders had warned him to be careful, but who could have guessed that right when he arrived, here on this remote, deserted beach a human appears and sees him in his dragon form.

  
Why had he sunned himself ?!

  
He should have known better!

 But now the human woman was a problem he had to eliminate and so Lance did the first thing that came to mind: he flirted with her.  
  
  
"Hello beauty, I did not think that I would meet such a lovely creature upon my arrival here." He grinned at her mischievously.  
The woman looked at him with wide eyes.  
"I didn’t think I would meet a water dragon today either." she finally answered cautiously.  
"Well, life is full of surprises. The name is Lance. "He continued to beam at her.  
"Nyma ..." she replied, still surprised.  
"So Nyma, do you happen to know where to get something to eat here? Your wonderful beach is my first stop in days and I could handle a meal. "  
Although it was true that Lance was a bit hungry from his journey, he just wanted to get into conversation with the Nyma-human to determine how far her settlement was from the beach and if she posed a danger to him. Food was the first topic that had come to his mind. He could have slapped himself.  
‘... great Lance, that’s not going to work at all. She will just think you’re a weirdo’ he thought to himself.  
"If you wait here for a moment I'll bring you something to eat." She answered unexpectedly friendly and even explained.  
"It would be strange if I suddenly showed up with a stranger in the village and you certainly do not want to be recognized as a dragon."  
She winked at him and Lance blushed slightly.  
Crap she had seen through him.

Was it that obvious he did not want to be discovered by humans? He had behaved quite naturally towards her.  
Lance pushed his thoughts aside, at least he would have a meal like this, before he had to move again.  
"That's nice Nyma, but please do not tell anyone about me. This remains a secret between us, promise? "  
"Promise." Said Nyma before she turned around, ran back to the village and left the dragon waiting on the beach.  
  
~~~  
  
Never would she have thought that the dangerous creature would just talk to her in a friendly way. She had expected to be eaten.  
But this was the perfect opportunity. She grinned widely.  
Nyma had to hurry, who knew if the dragon would actually wait for her.  
Maybe he had distrusted her, maybe she had been too friendly too fast, and maybe the water dragon was already gone, but it was worth to try anyway.  
As soon as she reached the village, she went in search of the next Galra Patrol.  
Everyone knew that Galra rewarded every hint concerning the water dragon.  
She could almost serve them a water dragon on the silver platter, it had to be worth a lot of money.  
Finally, she saw an armed troop of five men with eye-catching purple tattoos.  
A Galra Patrol.  
Confident, she approached the men and negotiated with their leader. Satisfied with the amount of coins that went into her bag, she hastily led the men towards the beach.  
  
~~~

Lance heard footsteps in the distance.  
Hasty steps.  
And it was not just the light couple of Nyma’s steps - it seemed to be several people.  
He listened more closely.  
Six, there were six people.  
Damn it!  
She had promised not to reveal his secret.  
What did the elders say - do not trust humans.  
How right they were!  
As the group came into view, Lance gasped.  
Even at this distance he could see the distinctive purple markings on the skin of the Galra. They snaked up their arms and graced their faces. Even from afar, the Galra gave a dangerous picture.  
They were five and they were armed.  
Alone at five would be difficult, so Lance decided to escape.  
He could not go back to the ocean. They could have boats and would start their search there. To hide from them would only cost him precious time in his search for Allura.

  
In the opposite direction from the Galra was a forest not far away. If Lance was fast enough and made it to the tree line before the Galra spotted him, he had a good chance of escaping. The forest offered many hiding places and who would suspect that a water dragon did not hide in the water.

  
Ha! Exactly - nobody.

Satisfied with his decision, Lance ran purposefully toward the tree line.  
He saw the shadow of the trees in front of him and just as he broke through the branches between two tall trees he heard excited shouts behind him.

  
They had discovered him.  
In panic he struggled through the thicket.

  
The forest did not offer nearly as much hiding places as he had imagined.  
It was a sunny day and the sunbeams were bright through the canopy.  
The forest was not nearly dark enough and the thicket was not dense enough to hide in it.  
So he ran on.  
It went uphill.  
He paused to catch his breath, but as soon as he heard steps in the distance and the shouts of the Galra, he kept running.  
He hit hooks like a rabbit, put wrong tracks, but he couldn’t get rid of his pursuers and to make matters worse, the forest seemed to clear.

  
Shortly thereafter, Lance stood outside the forest in front of a cliff.  
The wall stretched out on both sides as far as he could see, and from behind came the shouts of his pursuers. They knew the territory better than he did and stalked in a semicircle. Lance realized he was trapped.

  
No chance to escape, he would have to fight.  
Lance picked up his crossbow and armed it with a bolt.  
He would defeat as many Galra as he could before they reached him.  
Lance had always been one of the best snipers of his generation, if not the best, and it was something he was very proud of. His coaches had not in vain given him the nickname 'sharpshooter'.  
He put on the crossbow, took a deep breath and aimed with a calm hand on the Galra to his left.  
The heavy bolt shot through the air and hit the Galra in the middle of his forehead. The dull crack of the skullcap was audible and blood was spattering as the man fell to the ground.  
Head shot!  
Four more.  
Lance took another deep breath, followed suit and aimed a second time.  
Again, the bolt hit his target precisely.  
The carotid artery of the second Galra burst and he slumped gurgling forward before he finally lay motionless.  
Three more.  
But the remaining three Galra were already too close to be caught with the crossbow.

Lance had no choice but to change his weapon.  
Quickly he put back the crossbow and pulled out his short sword.

  
Lance was strong, of course he was strong he was a dragon after all! But against three Galra he had little to no chance... he was well aware of that. He also knew Galra were strong because of their fire dragons lineage, and he wanted actual armor for this fight, but it was too late for that now. Nevertheless, he would never give up without a fight.

If he should die here then he would die with them!  
When the first of the three Galra approached him with a scream, Lance already had his sword in position and skilfully parried the blow. The force of the impact made him take a step backwards, but he quickly caught himself again.

  
Soon the remaining Galra had reached him and a dance began where Lance avoided the Galra as much as possible and parried their blows. There was little opportunity for counterattack. All he could do was endure and wait until he had an opportunity to strike back.

  
One of the Galra slammed his sword at Lance's shoulder and hit him hard. His skin could not withstand the force of the blow and a gaping cut arose. Blood ran out of the wound as the dragon yelped with pain.  
The Galra grinned pleased at the pain of his opponent.  
Full of anger that he was hit and the arrogance of the Galra, Lance swung his blade. The sharp edge hit the Galra's neck and severed skin and muscles.  
The other two Galra looked in amazement and Lance with full satisfaction as the head fell to the ground and rolled a bit before the body sagged away.  
Lance was stained with the fallen Galra's blood, and the rest of the Galra were now watching him with wariness.

He grinned in bloodlust.  
Two more.  
  
~~~  
  
From the cave entrance fighting noise reached his ears.  
This was unusual.  
Normally no one got lost in this remote part of the forest.  
In his part of the forest!  
The inhabitants of the surrounding villages and also most travelers knew about the legends surrounding this part of the forest. Legends about the big, threatening red dragon that lived there and the danger that emanated from him.  
No one was as stupid as to volunteer to enter his territory and that was a good thing.  
He hated people and he hated Galra even more.  
All he wanted was his peace and someone dared to disturb it.  
The big red dragon snorted annoyed.

  
Slowly the dragon trotted to the entrance of his cave.  
From the outside, his home only looked like an ivy-covered part of the rockface, you had to know where the cave was to recognize it as such.  
Carefully, the dragon stuck its head out of its dwelling and eliminated the cause of the noise.  
There were four.

Three Galra and a weak-looking human.  
One of the Galra had just landed a hit.

The human's shoulder was bleeding heavily. _‘That was it probably for the human,_ thought the Red. But to his astonishment, the human took the first opportunity to cut off the head of the Galra.

The blood of the opponent soaked the man.  
_‘Or maybe not so weak human boy_ , thought the dragon.

 

Despite the skinny tall figure of the man he could see defined muscles on closer inspection.  
The red could not help but admire the fighting skills of the human.

Alone against three Galra ... that he was still standing was a miracle.  
He looked around.  
And then he realized ...

He could make out two more fallen Galra just where the forest ended. As far as he could tell, they had been struck down by bolts of an crossbow.  
So five ... if not even more Galra against one human.  
And he was still alive.  
Normally the dragon would have struck the fighters with its fire breath long ago, but this fight promised to be exciting.  
So he stayed hidden and watched the fight go on.  
  
~~~

 

The two Galra soon started a renewed attack on Lance and this time a sword hit him deeply in the side.

He groaned.  
Shortly thereafter, one of the Galra managed a blow to his leg.  
Lance stumbled, his power dwindling and life flowed out of him in red streams.

He could not say how long he would still stand against his opponents. But he would do everything to take them with him to the grave. He thought of his mission to rescue Princess Allura bitter.

How could he have failed so early?

Now the fate of his kind was in the hands of the other guards, and he could do nothing but liberate the world of a few more Galra.  
In despair, he began to neglect his cover and stormed to one of his attackers to force his blade right into his stomach. As the hard steel penetrated the Galra, he withdrew his sword and continued to stab the Galra until he went down with a shriek of pain.

The blood spurted and the Altean was not even sure if he was now stained with more blood from his opponents or his own. He had to look a terrible right now.

  
Just one Galra to go.  
The last of the group.

  
Breathing hard and barely conscious, Lance turned to his last opponent.  
It went back and forth for a while, neither of them seemed to be able to score a hit and strength was fading on both sides.  
The one with more stamina would emerge victorious from the fight and Lance was aware that it looked bad for him. His wounds demanded a lot from him. Even if he won this fight, he would bleed to dead miserably.  
He was about to give up when the sound of heavy footsteps distracted the Galra.  
The water dragon seized the opportunity and drove his sword right through the heart of the Galra, pulled it out and watched as his last opponent sank to the ground.

  
He had won.

  
Lance dizzied.  
He staggered before the weight of his own body forced him to his knees.  
He was tired ... so incredibly tired.  
Tears ran down his cheeks, how could he have failed like that?  
Leaning his weight on his sword, he slowly looked up to see what had distracted the Galra.

  
A dragon!  
A bloodred fire dragon!  
His huge form looked at him and his amnethyst eyes glared at him mysteriously.

  
_,Beautiful'_

  
Lance had never seen more beautiful eyes. They seemed so deep and he wanted to sink into them endlessly. He felt directly connected to the being in front of him. That's how it had to be to meet his soulmate, he thought.

  
His grandmother had always told him that looking into his soulmate's eyes was enough to make him feel like he already knew them for eternities.  
Lance smiled weakly.

  
He hallucinated, no wonder with the amount of blood he lost.  
His vision floated and then went black.  
Silently he sent a thousand apologies to his clan, his family, and Allura.  
His body slumped to the ground.  
  
~~~  
  
He did not know what motivated him to get involved in the fight.  
Bewildered, the fire dragon saw the figure of the dark-skinned human lying lifeless on the forest floor.

  
This gaze.  
These sapphire blue eyes.

  
It was as if they had touched something deep inside him.  
The man had looked at him without fear.  
He had smiled at him.

  
And he did not know what it was, but something in him moved him to carefully lift the half-dead figure of the human from the cold forest floor and gently take him inside his den.

  
There was still life in him.


	3. The Cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is barely alive and we all hope it stays that way ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for coming back, ich hope you enjoy the new chapter.
> 
> If you didn't already notice it in the last chapter ~~~ means a change of the POV and thoughts are written in italic

The petite figure in the claws of the red dragon was soaked in blood.

Not only in his own blood, but also in the blood of the Galra he had defeated. The young man hung slack in the soft grip of the beast.  
Said beast moved purposefully and as gently as possible through the labyrinth of cave passages, as to not injure the fragile human further.  
Each intruder would have lost his way in the jumble of paths, but the red dragon had made this cave his home and could not be hindered.  
After what felt like an eternity, he reached his lair. A cozy room of the cave he had equipped with a nest of fluffy pelts. The torches on the walls immersed the room into a dim orange, but with a breath of the fire dragon, they lit up brightly. He had full control over the fire in his cave, the torches were of   his fire, burning eternally and under his control.

  
Carefully, he put the man on his bed.  
He doubted himself for a moment.

Never before had he allowed a human so deeply into his cave, no - at all let a human voluntarily into his cave and yet he could not help but take in this completely stranger.

Worrying… although the human was definitely bleeding on to his furs, his nest was ruined. Strangely he felt neither hatred nor disgust about his ruined pelts, only pure concern for the motionless form on top of them.

  
He glanced over the human.

His condition was really worrying: his blue clothes were in tatters and the wounds on his side and his shoulder seemed to be particularly deep and bleeding unstoppable, and the man looked pale despite his caramel colored skin.

  
In his dragon shape the red couldn’t do anything and as strange as it seemed he felt an urgent need to help the warrior. His dragon magic allowed him to spit fire and destroy, but healing, healing was a completely different story. The healing magic was a gift reserved for water dragons.

Helpless, the huge dragon looked at the young man. It had been a long time since he last changed his form and so it took him a moment before he could manifest his human form in thoughts and thus set his transformation in motion. Blazing red light filled the room and the big red beast became human. Hopefully he could help the warrior in this form.

  
Quickly he got linen towels and a washtub with water. The red held his hands in the water and let his magic run wild until the water was pleasantly warm. He began to remove the injured person's clothes. Carefully, he tore the thin fabric of the top into pieces, so that he could remove them.  
Sharply, he drew in his breath - the wound stretched from the shoulder to the man's chest, shining in aggressive red.

If he did not clean the wound properly, it would ignite, and even if the man survived the bleeding, wound fever would do the rest.

  
The fire dragon soaked the cloths with water and began to carefully clean the warrior's torso of dried and fresh blood. When the wound was cleaned, he began to sew it and then put a tight bandage around his shoulder.

The water in the tub was deep red and thus the dragon went to renew it. He regretted that he neglected his stock of medicinal herbs, he did not even have any antiseptic or pain-relieving herbs in his den. As he made his way back to his patient with fresh water, he cursed softly to himself. Disappointed about his own negligence.  
When he began to remove the pants of the young man - the human wore nothing under his pants. Redness rose into the Dragon's now pale human cheeks.  
What an unusual person wearing no underwear.

Embarrassed, the fire dragon turned his eyes away from the man's intimate region and began to cleanse and bind the wounds on his side and legs. The whole thing happened almost tenderly, with the greatest effort not to cause further pain to the human.

After making sure that the bleeding had stopped, the bandages stuck firmly and he took a last look in the stranger's quiet face, Red made his way to the nearby human village.

  
He could not remember the last time he had gone to the village.

  
He usually avoided people as much as possible. Not without reason did he live in a remote cave in the forest, killing everything and everyone who dared to come too close to his dwelling and yet the injured man, more dead than alive in his nest, made him come here.  
  
~~~

Actually, an old friend, a witch who lived in the human village, provided the dragon with everything he needed.

She was one of the few people who were allowed to enter the Dragon's Cave and left it alive. Said witch almost thought she saw a ghost when she saw the dragon standing in her hut, in his human form.  
First, it was only the second time that the dragon had come to her in her hut over all the years and second, it was years ago that she last saw the dragon in its human form. Nevertheless, she undoubtedly recognized him.

  
"Red, what brings you to my modest hut? Usually not even a noisy Galra-troop brings you out of your cave. Were you lonely without my company?" She asked him half jokingly, half worried.

  
The red growled, which sounded menacing even in his human form.

  
"I have no time for your jokes witch!"

  
"Hush Red ... tell me what do you want?" She tried soothingly.

  
"I need antiseptic herbs to sterilize wounds and painkilling herbs in a form that is easy to serve, perhaps as tea or something similar." Describe the dragon hastily and ignored the witch's wonder.

  
"I see you're not hurting Dragon, may I ask who the herbs are for?" She eyed him skeptically.

  
The Red was a loner, he hated to be confronted with other humans or rather other creatures and now he suddenly stood here in her hut, which alone was unusual and demanded medical herbs that were definitely not meant for him.

She became more and more curious.

What or who could drive the dragon out of its cave into the village.  
Interesting, really interesting.

  
She adjusted her big round  glasses and grinned at him mischievously.  
"I should at least know what kind of species the person you want to give the herbs to is and what kind of wounds they have so I don’t  give you the wrong herbs or the wrong dosage."

  
The dragon grumbled.  
"Human and there are deep cuts, caused by Galra-swords." He answered curtly.

  
Interesting … the dragon took care of a human.  
A human who was apparently attacked by Galra. The witch knew that the dragon hated Galra above all other creatures, but that's no reason to go as far as too save a human being just because it was attacked by them.  
Her curiosity was awaken, she had to see that human!

  
"For the time being, I can give you a healing tincture for the wounds and herbs for a tea that will relieve the pain. The tea tastes disgusting, but is extremely effective. "  
She handed him a jar with tincture and a bag of tea-herbs before continuing.  
 "It might be helpful if I could look at the human being myself."

  
The fire dragon frowned as he considered. For some inexplicable reason, something in him struggled to show the injured to the witch. Something in him opposed to let anyone near the human, no matter who it was. The red dragon was possessive,  even if he had never been possessive over other creatures ... the only thing which he had been possessive of was his treasure. The whole situation confused him.

  
"Thanks, Pidge, that's not necessary." He waved the witch off.

The disappointment was written on her face, but he did not let it bother him.

  
With a short "See you." And his haul in hand, the dragon hurried away.  
As soon as he had reached the protective thicket of the forest, he turned back into his dragon form to get back to the cave faster.  
  
~~~  
  
He could not move and his body was throbbing with pain.  
Everything hurt terribly.  
His shoulder throbbed and his side stabbed.  
He had to be in hell.

  
The last thing Lance could remember was his fight with the Galra. Satisfied he remembered that he had beaten them, all five. But as wounded as he had finished the fight, this could only be death.  
But should death not mean the end of all his pain?  
He could only have landed in hell, why else would he be tormented even in death ... what had he done to deserve this?!

  
He groaned in pain.  
Could pain really be so great even in death?

  
Irritated, Lance opened his eyes.  
The bright light of the surroundings blinded him and he had to blink a few times until he could see that he was in a cave-like room with stone walls. On the walls hung several torches that bathed the room in bright, warm light and he himself lay on a pile of animal pelts, otherwise the room was meager. He himself was also covered with one of the pelts and under that, he had to admit, it was wonderfully warm.

  
With great effort, the water dragon finally managed to lift his arm so far that he could push aside the fur that covered it.  
He was startled. He was stark-naked under the pelt.  
His blood-soaked clothes were gone and his body was free from blood. His wounds were securely patched up.

  
Irritated, Lance looked down at himself.  
This whole thing was a bit too weird to be hell, right?

Maybe a fever dream and he was still dying?

  
No ... that was the pain that tormented him too real.

With every movement, however small, a painful groan escaped him.

  
Again he thought back to the fight.  
When he had looked up, a figure stood there. He remembered purple amethyst eyes sparkling mystic, red scales and a black mane. He remembered a huge red dragon.  
He shuddered.

  
Had he seen a god of death, or had the whole thing been real?

  
No, that could not really have happened. It had been a big red dragon.  
Red - that meant a fire dragon and everyone knew that the Galra were fire dragons and those Galra that didn’t  have a dragon form were still descended from them.

But when he thought back to the fire dragons he couldn’t  feel hostility, rather he felt connected to him.

  
Lance once again let his eyes wander and noticed a movement in the corner of his eye.

  
"Oh, well you woke up" said a deep voice.  
"I thought I would have to dig a hole." added the voice sarcastically.

  
Lance frowned.

Who in the world was that, what was that?

  
_, Dig a hole? ... '_ he thought to himself _. ‘Ah, it means a grave. So I nearly died? '_  
Only seconds later it dawned on Lance.  
"Wait, that means I'm still alive!" thought the water dragon loudly.

  
The voice laughed.

  
"Nearly. But you are barely alive. "

  
He wanted to straighten up and look for the source of the voice. He needed to know who it belonged to. But as soon as he began his efforts, the voice hissed at him warningly.  
"Be careful! If you move too much, the seams will open again. Stay! "

  
"Then come over here so I can see you!" pouted Lance.  


To his surprise, he heard claws clawing the ground, accompanied by a grinding noise, as if something big and heavy were being dragged across the floor. Shortly thereafter, a huge scaly something appeared in his field of vision.

  
His eyes grew big.

 

Not something, a dragon, a giant red dragon ... no! The huge red dragon he had seen before he lost consciousness.

  
The water dragon eyed the fire dragon.

  
The red looked majestic as he stood there in the light of the torches: large red-shining scales, a long jet-black mane reaching from head to tail, the tip of his tail adorning a dangerous-looking black pointed blade, two large black horns turned backwards on his head and his mouth was adorned with sharp teeth. But what attracted Lance's attention were his eyes, which shone in a clear dark purple, as if they could see through him to the depths of his soul.

Banned, he looked at the big creature.

So that was the enemy, a real fire dragon. It was the first time Lance saw a real Galra Dragon.

  
"Who are you?" He asked curiously.

Lance needed to find out why a fire dragon had saved him when he had obviously butchered Galra -  the Fire Dragon's race.  
  
~~~  
  
The fire dragon looked down at the injured man.

  
He didn’t  think that the human would regain consciousness so quickly. He had only been gone for a few hours to get the medical plants in the village. This human had to have an incredible will to live and must be strong.

  
The human did not seem to have the slightest trace of fear, or at least he did not show it.

  
The red sniffed.

  
He did not smell scared either - amazing.

  
This injured warrior became more and more interesting, lying there more dead than alive in the lair of a dragon and had the nerve to command him around and demand his name.

  
Amusing, really amusing.

  
Never had he met such a person.

He was used to humans begging for their lives, froze in fear or trying to flee. But that calmness in his presence, that was something new.

  
"They call me The Red." He finally answered.

  
The human looked at him challengingly.

  
"I can see why ... but I did not ask that. What is your name?"

 

So the human thought so he was funny.

  
"Just The Red is enough. Everyone around here is trembling when they hear that name, and rightly so, no one dares to go near my forest. This is the death zone and you ask me for my name little human ... "

  
He snorted. The human wanted provoke him.

  
Seriously.  
Him.  
A fire dragon.

  
Either the warrior was incredibly brave or incredibly stupid ... Or both.

  
The dragon leaned forward, the man's eyes still looking challenging and sparkling.

  
Ok, it would not hurt to tell him his name.  
"My name is Keith." spoke Keith the fire dragon finaly.

  
"Do not use my name recklessly. They did not give me the title of Red in vain. You should fear me, just like the other humans do. I have destroyed many villages and crushed many people under my claws. "He added threateningly.

  
Why did this man irritate him so much.

  
"Then why did you not just eat me, oh cruel dragon. Or at least just let me bleed to death on the spot? "asked the young man with a mocking grin.

  
Keith didn’t  answer, he didn’t know it himself.

  
He quickly distracted from the topic.  
"And what’s your name fearless warrior, if I may ask that?" He asked cynically.  
  
~~~

  
_'Keith, the red ...'_ Lance thought to himself.

  
This huge beast wanted Lance to be afraid of him, he sensed that, but more than anything he irritated Lance.

  
Why had the dragon saved him?

  
The fire dragon even had a title. Secretly the water dragon was jealous of the other dragon's title. Dragon titles were something you had to earn, an honor, names that were given to you and were usually given only to older dragons, but the dragon in front of him did not look so much older than Lance himself. Except fire dragons aged differently than water dragons, but he had never heard of that.

 

Luckily he was in his human form, Lance thought.

Who knew if the fire dragon would have helped him if he recognized him as a water dragon.  
Wait, or did he recognize him as such and he was his prisoner? Was he after his magic?

  
He had to be careful. Stay in conversation with the other dragon and find out how much he knew.

  
So he teased him further.  
"Sure, you can ask, that's the least I can do after you've seen me naked."

  
He gave the Red a wink.

  
"My name is Lance."

  
He left his last name out. It was safer, if the Fire Dragon knew about the Water Dragon clans that would be dangerous … and after all, the other dragon also only gave his first name.

  
"Pleased to meet you Keith. Oh and thanks for fixing me up. "  
  
~~~  
  
_‘Pleased to meet you …’_

  
This man, Lance was incredible.

  
Who said such a thing to a dragon?

  
And had he flirted with him?

  
Keith was deeply confused.

 __  
"What brings you here, Lance, into my forest?"

He asked to free himself from his thoughts.

  
"I fled from the Galra and wanted to hide in the forest."  
The human lowered his eyes. He noticed soft brown curls that fell in his face.

  
"As you may have noticed, that did not work out well ..."  
The laughter that followed sounded stifled.

  
"I am surprised that you defeated five Galra alone." Keith admitted honestly.

"But the way you handle your blade, I could see you are an trained fighter ... even though I think your fighting stance needs improvement."

  
"Oh yes, so Mr. My-stance-is-much-better just so you know I'm the best fighter where I’m from!" The warrior promptly answered him defiantly.

  
Was Lance seriously fighting a dragon?

  
He laughed deeply and loudly. His laughter filled the cave.  
  
~~~  
  
The fire dragon had a nice laugh.

  
It vibrated through Lance's whole body.

But it is really a good idea to take on a fire dragon. A Galra. After all they were enemies and as the Red said it himself - he was dangerous.

  
"No need to verbally attack me right now."  
Said the red.  
"I could help you to improve your fighting ..."

  
Lance's head moved to the dragon wide-eyed.

  
"You would train me?"

  
He must have heard that wrong.  
First he was rescued by the fire dragon and then he even offered to train him.

  
What the heck!

  
"K..ok, I, i mean only when you would like that ..." came the dragon's wary response.

  
What the heck!!

  
Had the beast just stuttered, was he embarrassed?  
Why?

  
Lance looked like a human, Lance was hurt and the dragon didn’t owe him a favor.  
The whole thing was confusing, really confusing.

  
"As soon as I can move again ..." Lance mumbled.

  
And then there was awkward silence.

 

"Your title is pretty cool, I like the sound of ‘The Red’ ... I wish I had a title too ... haha ... but well that's just for dragons - I know and you have to earn it ... you look pretty young for a title ..."

  
The Alteaner babbled in an attempt to break the silence.  
He bit his tongue, he had to stop this nonsense, or otherwise he would reveal himself.

  
"Thanks." came the surprised answer from the red.  
"I would have wished for something better, like ‘Thunderstorm Darkness’."

  
Lance chuckled at the name.

  
"How do you know that I'm young? Most people can’t  judge the age of a dragon. " Keith finally asked him curiously.

  
"Oh that was just a guess" Lance fended off.

Shit, he really had to be more careful.

  
"You're right, I'm only 121, pretty young for a dragon."

  
Oh, Lance himself was 119, almost the same age as Keith. All the more jealous Lance was of his dragon title.

  
He would not complain if people called him ‘The Blue’ and looked up to him, but he was a long way away from his own title.

  
Lance frowned.

  
There was still a question on his mind that the Fire Dragon hadn’t  answered yet.

  
"Keith, why am I not dead?"

  
Keith looked at him.

Turmoil in his eyes, they reflected so many emotions, as if the dragon wrestled with itself.

  
"Because I saved you?" The dragon tried carefully.

  
"Yes, but why did you save me?"

  
The dragon swallowed noticeably.

  
"You ... you fascinated me." He finally admitted.

  
"You fought alone against five Galra-soldiers without despairing and your eyes were so full of determination. You were so incredibly brave. I've never seen anything like that before. "

  
The dragon now looked directly at Lance.  
"And you're not afraid of me even a bit, I've never experienced that either. Lance, you are really special. "

 

The water dragon blushed.

Keith had seriously complimented him.

So that's how the other dragon saw him. Amazing.

  
Lance could hardly tell him that he was a dragon himself and therefore would not be afraid of him, but then his camouflage would be gone.

 

In his present condition he couldn’t let it come to an fight with the fire dragon, he wouldn’t  stand a chance. As injured as he was, he even couldn’t  turn back into his dragon form. He had no choice but to let Keith believe he was a simple human.  
  
~~~  
  
Embarrassed by his confession, Keith tried to steer the conversation in another direction.

  
"You look exhausted Lance. Wait a moment, I will bring you something against pain and then you should sleep again. "

  
At that, man only nodded at him exhausted.

  
Keith left his bedchamber and went to the kitchen to prepare the painkilling tea he had received from Pidge.

  
What the hell had gotten him in this situation?

  
What he had said to Lance was true indeed - he was fascinated by the human being.

  
He was strong yet graceful and he even bickered with Keith.

  
Hardly anyone who knew him spoke against his words. Hardly anyone dared to do this. Hardly anyone teased him the way the beautiful warrior had done.

  
With the finished tea, he went back to Lance and poured him the drink.

  
The injured man made a disgusted face but drank the whole cup without complaining.  
Shortly after he drank the tea he fell into a deep sleep.

  
Only now Keith realized the silence.

  
Keith admitted to himself that he had not had such a long conversation in ages. Especially not a conversation that had not bothered him. On the contrary, he really enjoyed it.

  
The bubbly man had filled his cave with life and for the first time in a long while, the fire dragon had found pleasure in the company of another being.


	4. The witch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has a fever and Keith decides to ask Pidge for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and welcome back guys,
> 
> originally i didn't plan for this fic to get so long .... but it has a life of its own now xD  
> So, i decided to just go with it and make this a rather long fic. That's rather untypical for me, usually i just write short smut, but well ... you know, why not try something new from time to time.  
> Because of this i put in the tags slow build and slow burn ... even if i don't think its slow burn seeing how Keith is pinning right from the start.
> 
> And as always: Thanks for putting up with the bad english and if someone would like to help i did indeed appreciate it ... translations are hard.

The red dragon startled from his sleep.

Irritated he realized that he had spent the night on the cold stone floor of his bedchamber and not as usual surrounded by the warm pelts of his nest.

It took him a moment to remember.

_, The fearless warrior ... Lance ... '_

He raised his massive dragon head and turned to the sleeping human.

He realized what had torn him from his sleep immediately.

There it was again.

An agonizing moan tore the silence of the cave and Lance rolled restlessly from one side to the other. If he kept that up his wounds would open again.

Keith had to wake him up.

The dragon nudged the man determined with his snout.

A painful sound left the man again, but he did not wake.

The dragon sensed the heat radiating from the wounded man's body and even though he did not have much to do with humans, he knew that they did not normally have such a high body temperature.

He was worried. Did Lance have a fever? He checked his temperature again. Yes, that would be the case.

Neither the tincture nor the tea could help him in this situation.

Keith felt helpless. He just was not made for taking care of other beings. He was always alone and he liked to be alone. He should have known that the beautiful man could only mean trouble and yet ... despite better knowledge, he had brought him into his cave.

What had he been thinking? He wanted to persuade himself that he would only nurse the human and then deliver him to the next human settlement. He wanted to persuade himself that he only cared for people because he had defended himself so impressively against the Galra. The Galra he hated. The dragon knew better, he knew that human - Lance smells of complications. He hated complicated things and he loved his peace, his silence - very much. A look into the warrior's blue eyes had made him take him in, save him, worry about how he could help the fragile creature.

This whole thing was sheer madness.

Keith was fully aware of that.

He was a dragon – he didn’t care about humans.

Still, he looked helplessly at Lance, who was burning with fever. He seemed exhausted and he would not be able to withstand the fever for long. After all the effort Keith had made to keep the man alive, he couldn’t give up now.

The dragon gritted his teeth.

He struggled with himself.

It was not his style at all ...

But he would not be able to do this alone, he had to ask Pidge for help.

She would tease him about this forever.

Keith growled.

Didn’t matter – Lance’s life depended on him.

Hastily he made his way to the village.

 

~~~

 

The witch looked in disbelief at her door.

The second time this week the dragon stood in her hut.

That the red voluntarily went among human, even to visit her, was extremely unusual.

The dragon stayed by himself and even she saw him only once a month when she brought him supplies to his den and even then their conversations were always short.

He seemed restless. Rather deeply disturbed and she wondered if it was related to his visit yesterday.

Was it about the mysterious human again.

"Pidge ..."

He looked straight at her, his words seemed to be hard for him to say.

"I need your help."

Ok, that was new.

Was that truly the Red Dragon? Her friend Keith?

Keith would never voluntary ask for help.

She looked irritated at the dragon standing in front of her in his human form. His expression was miserable. He looked as if he had bitten into a sour lemon and everything in him had struggled against what he just had said.

"Oho, the mighty dragon asks for my help." She joked.

"What do I get if I help you, Dragon?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"You get a favor from me if you help me witch."

Keith admitted surprisingly quick.

"Even if I ask for one of your scales?" she asked him curiously.

Pidge had long wanted a dragonscale for her research, but Keith had always refused to give her one of his scales. Dragonscale were rare and valuable. Which was due to the difficulties of getting one. Getting a scale of a dragon required either that the dragon died or voluntarily gave up its scales. No dragon voluntary gave his scales away, removing them was a painful process. Yes, they were growing back if removed, but the pain was similar to that suffered by a human if you pulled a toenail.

"You will get your scale ... but help me cure Lance." He hissed.

The witch was astonished, seldom had she seen him with such a resolute look and he actually volunteered one of his scales. Quickly she packed a bag of various herbs and tinctures. Better she did what the dragon wanted before he let his offer go through his head again.

 

 

"Ready to go," she informed her friend shortly thereafter.

"So ... who is Lance?"

"Only a seriously injured human who needs help. He was involved in a fight against the Galra. Right in front of my cave. "

She looked at Keith with raised eyebrows.

"You volunteer to help a human? A complete stranger? "

What was going on here? Was this a doppelganger? What had happened to the grumpy dragon?

There was no answer.

 

 

The two of them hurried silently toward the forest and when Keith changed and let Pidge ride on his back, she was completely speechless.

Never … really never would she have thought that he would let someone, no matter whom and no matter what the reason was, ride his back like a horse.

Who the hell was this human?

 

 

Traveling with dragon wings was significantly faster and significantly easier than her normal walk to the cave.

Soon they had reached the hiding place of the red.

Keith escorted Pidge to his bedroom.

She had never been so deep inside his den, but the nest of fur obviously marked the room as the bedroom of the dragon.

Not exactly comfortable in her opinion.

Something too barren for her taste. Well, maybe that was the epitome of cozy for a dragon. She shrugged and looked at the human lying on the furs.

He didn’t look so good.

Sweat beaded from his forehead, his skin glistening feverishly and the wound on his shoulder was bleeding through the bandage.

She heard the dragon bobbing uneasily from one paw to the other. An annoying noise and she tried to concentrate here.

"Keith, if you can’t stand still, you should go." she snarled at the dragon irritated.

"Can you help him?" The dragon asked worriedly.

"Listen Red: I'm doing my best so now would you leave the room please. I have to concentrate. "

Then the dragon pulled in his tail and trolled.

Pidge wasted no further thought about how she just had thrown the dragon out from his own bedroom and returned to her patient.

She gave him antipyretic drugs and herbs that would speed up his healing process, stitched and bandaged his shoulder, and finally called for the dragon.

Pidge sent him to get a robe for the naked man.

Keith seemed to have the sensitivity of a frying pan, how could he just leave the man lying around naked. He would be freezing.

 

~~~

 

Lance slowly opened his eyes.

His body still felt terrible.

"Hey, good that you are awake."

Greeted him an unknown voice.

Definitely not the voice of the dragon.

His voice was deeper, this one was brighter, more female.

He stood up in surprise.

"Not so fast, slow down please. You want to keep your wounds closed. "

The voice warned him.

He spotted a small human beside his bed of furs.

He studied her.

It was hard to say, but he reckoned she was a woman, she was short-haired, her head was adorned with fuzzy light brown hair that seemed to stand in all directions, her eyes were of the same color as her hair and they looked attentively through big, round glasses.

"Do you know that you are very lucky?" asked the woman.

"Why?" He replied, confused. Lucky? That he was tracked down by a squad of Galra? That he was half-dead in the cave of a dragon?

"Yes, the dragon did not eat you. It's amazing that you are still live. "

Oh ... well, if you looked at it that way, he was lucky.

"I'm Pidge Gunderson." She introduced herself.

"The dragon asked me to check on your wounds, you had a fever."

The dragon had asked a human to look after him? Strange. Was it normal for fire dragons to surround themselves with humans? Anyway, it was unusual for water dragons.

He studied the woman intently. Looked at the containers and the tufts with various herbs that were scattered around her. She was a healer.

Gunderson ...

The name sounded familiar, as if he had heard it before ...

 _‘Gunderson, why does the name seem so familiar to me?’_ He mused, and then he clearly remembered.

"Pidge, you're not a relative of the Holt Clan?"

"How did you know that?" She hissed at him. The little woman looked at him hostilely.

He looked at her perplex.

"I know that Gunderson is an alias that the Holt Clan used often when mingling with people ..." he answered truthfully.

She studied him carefully.

"Who are you?"

"Lance ..." he answered.

"Lance and? Why does a human like you know about the Holt clan? "

Lance shuddered.

Crap.

He had babbled.

She was right, humans should not have such knowledge. Generally, hardly anyone should have this knowledge. But his clan the McClains were the guardians of knowledge. They watched over the ancient library of water dragons and their elders knew many secrets about the world. As a kid dragon even Lance had learned all about the different races. In the earlier times there were not only fire and water dragons, but many dragon races. One of the more powerful had been the earth dragons, closely linked to the earth and nature they had a knack for herbs and plants. They could heal or destroy with them. From them came the formulas of powerful healing potions and fatal poisons. Apparently, Pidge, the healer, was a descendant from a line of Earth Dragons and the last known line was the Holts. Although there were no earth dragons anymore, but their descendants were still closely associated with nature.

"I can’t tell you my full name ..." confessed Lance.

"But I'm not an enemy of the Earth Dragons offspring. The existence of the Holt clan is a well-guarded secret in my family. I promise I will not tell anyone, healer. "

He hoped that she realized that he honestly meant it.

After the healer had stared at him for several minutes, she finally sighed.

"Ok Lance, I believe you."

Lance let out a relieved breath. He was aware that in the future he would have to be very careful in her presence. This woman was smart. She could be dangerous.

"It's flattering to be called a healer ..." Pidge said.

"But that's exactly what you are…"

"People tend to call me a witch. Maybe because they don’t understand what I'm doing. "

Lance was seething with anger inwardly. The humans called a venerable healer a witch? That was extremely disrespectful.

"What idiots call a venerable, descendant of the earth dragons witch?! Your people have always had the greatest connection to mother nature ... no one else knows how to make healing tinctures and poisons like your race ... calling you a witch ... "

Lance snorted.

"... that's just disrespectful!"

That just made him angry.

Full of rage, the water dragon ranted until a bell-like laugh interrupted him.

Pidge had tears of laughter in his eyes.

"Thanks ... it's ok Lance, I got used to it."

Embarrassed, Lance looked to the side. Oh man, oh man - he was totally in a rage.

 

 

"Do you think you can get up?" The healer asked after she had calmed down.

He nodded.

He began to straighten up carefully and set his legs down on the cave floor.

As soon as he stood he had to lean on Pidge.

He had nausea and felt dizzy all at the same time.

Trembling, he took a few deep breaths and waited for his body to calm down.

Pidge put on a simple robe around Lance's bare shoulders.

He looked at her gratefully and pulled the robe tighter around his shoulders.

It was soft and gave immediate warmth.

He sighed at how comfortable it felt.

He wondered where the dragon had such a comfortable robe. The dragon himself didn’t even need it. After all fire dragons were naturally warm.

The little healer supported him and escorted him to another room in the cave.

This room obviously served as a kitchen.

Over a crackling fire hung a cast-iron kettle in which something fragrant simmered and in the middle of the room stood a huge rustic oak table surrounded by equally rustic chairs.

Lance sank down on one of the chairs.

 

 

Pidge poured a lavish portion of fragrant soup into a bowl and handed it to Lance with a piece of bread.

"Here, eat. It will strengthen you. "

"Thanks ..." he mumbled, repeating "Thank you for helping me."

"I only helped you because the dragon asked me to." Pidge explained quickly.

"Thanks anyway."

He was deeply indebted to the Fire Dragon.

Lance picked up a spoonful of the soup.

She tasted wonderful.

How was he ever supposed to pay the blame to the Fire Dragon? Even if they were enemies, even if he belonged to the Galra, he had nevertheless saved Lance's life and even made sure that the healer took care of him. He did not know what he deserved, and he was afraid of what the Fire Dragon would demand in return.

Again and again he was worried that the other dragon already knew that he was a water dragon, not a human being.

 

 

He noticed that Pidge had been staring at him for a while.

"What is it?" He asked her.

"I'm interested in why Red helped you?" She confessed.

"I would be interested too ... I can’t answer that question, I just know that he seems to find me fascinating. Maybe he needs a pet. "Lance mocked.

"No ..." laughed Pidge "Keith is a loner. He loves the silence of his cave and yet he helped you ... that's very interesting. "

They were silent for a while.

"Pidge, what do you think how long will it take for my wounds to heal?"

"A few weeks, I guess. Are you in a hurry? "The healer answered.

"Yes, before I came here I was looking for a friend of mine. She was kidnapped by the Galra. I have to free her as soon as possible. "He gave the information without going into detail.

"Oh ... a friend or a lover?" Pidge teased.

"Wa .. what? No, no, a friend! "

The idea that he and Allura were a couple was extremely strange for Lance. He had known her from childhood and she belonged to his family. He had never seen anything but a good friend in her. She was like a sister to him.

Allura.

He had to leave as soon as his strength would allow him.

But for the time being he was bound to the Dragon's Cave.

"Eat some of the soup, I mixed some medicinal herbs in." smirked Pidge.

When Lance was saturated, Pidge left the cave and headed back to the village.

 

 

 

Lance sat in the kitchen for a while, he was gathering enough strength to make his way back to the bedchamber.

He was still weak and sleepy after eating well.

After a few steps his legs gave up and he sank to the ground.

"Keith!" He shouted.

He was aware that the healer had left and the only help remaining was the red dragon. He struggled to ask him for help, after all, he had already done more than enough for him and Lance was already deeply in debt.

"Keith ... Red?" He repeated slightly desperately.

The floor of the cave was icy and the cold was already beginning to creep up his legs.

He heard shuffling noises in the distance, and soon after the figure of the dragon came into view.

"Chill, I'm already here. What is it? "The big dragon asked, slightly annoyed.

Lance looked up shuddering at the tall figure. He was not sure if he was shivering from the cold of the ground or the sight of the dragon. Keith looked truly impressive and dangerous as he stood there.

"My legs don’t carry me, I need your help." Lance said decisively.

The fire dragon then carefully lifted the guard from the ground with his claw.

Lance gasped. He lay in the hand of the dragon surrounded by his razor-sharp claws.

"Why are you doing this? Is it enough if you support me? "Lance complained.

"This is way faster. I don’t have time to spare and last time you didn’t  complain. "

 _'Last time?'_ the thought confused Lance until he could figure out the dragon's words.

"Last time, I was unconscious. That's not the same thing! "Lance rebelled indignantly.

"Anyway, it's faster that way." repeated the dragon.

"I'm strong enough to walk myself if you support me." Lance insisted.

"Whatever ..." the dragon replied, slightly annoyed.

Before Lance could open his mouth for another response, the dragon dropped him on the bed and covered him with a fur.

"Shut up and sleep." He ordered.

And although the water dragon wanted to protest, his exhaustion overcame him. Lulled by the warmth of the fur, he fell asleep.

This time it was a peaceful and restful sleep.


	5. The Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is starting to have fever dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short fluffy chapter.  
> And there is more fluff too come bevor the angsty shit is going down ... insert evil laughter here ... ok, just a tiny bit of angst, promise ;)

Lance dreamed.

  
He dreamed of a man. A half-naked man with a muscle-clad upper body, ivory-colored skin and silky black hair that reached down to his shoulders. The man's eyes shone in a strong violet and seemed strangely familiar to the water dragon. Though he could not tell where he had seen the man before, he was completely unknown to him. Admittedly a very sexy stranger but yet a stranger.

  
A bit too good looking because it was strange how attracted the guardian was to the mysterious man.  
Maybe his brain was playing a joke on him. Never before had he become so attracted to another being and he had never felt that desire to touch before.

  
Yes, of course, Lance was a dragon in puberty.

Yes, Lance flirted with most beings, he enjoyed it.

  
But ... in his childhood his grandmother had told him the stories of true soulmates.  
Such soulmates as his grandparents and parents were.  
Lance had not found his soulmate under the water dragons. When he found out he had been devastated. At that time he wanted nothing more than to finally meet his soulmate and happily grow old with her or him.  
Maybe he had false hopes.  
Of course he could have tried a relationship.  
But he was firmly convinced - either he would find his soulmate or age alone.

  
And yet he had that longing, unfulfilled desire.

  
The man just stood in front of him, staring at him from his wonderful eyes. He was unable to resist the urge to touch the other and Lance reached out his hand for the silky shimmering skin. As he touched the other he felt smooth, smooth skin under his fingers. Fascinated, he saw from his fingertips up into the man's face and caught him smiling softly.

  
"Come to me ..." the stranger demanded and opened his arms invitingly for Lance.  
It didn’t need more than this invitation.  
The water dragon couldn’t  help but meet the others demand.  
Carefully he snuggled up against the body in front of him and wrapped his arms around the stranger.  
With a comfortable sigh he let his head sink into the crook of the other and tenderly began to explore his back with his hands.  
The skin there also felt smooth and hard ...  
Hold a moment…  
Almost too smooth, more like marble - just warmer, not like soft human skin.  
  
  
A white light spread around Lance and he started to wake up.

  
He was holding something pleasantly warm and smooth.  
He was still half asleep as he snuggled closer against the smooth surface of the something, before slowly coming to himself.

  
Lance blinked.

  
The something was red ... and scaly.

  
A startled squeak escaped him. He had actually snuggled up to the tail of the dragon.  
Slightly panicked, he looked over at the big Red.  
Phew.  
Luckily for him, the dragon slept near the nest.

  
  
~~~

 

Keith dreamed.

  
Intrepidity, power, beauty ... and he was truly beautiful caramel-brown skin, soft brown curls framing his sharp face and the most incredible blue-shining eyes he had ever seen.

Lance stood before him.  
Dream-Lance eyed him with interest.

  
The fire dragon remembered how he had reacted to his naked skin, to his eyes, even in the bloodstained condition he had carried him into his home, Lance had been breathtaking. Something in him drove him to take him in ... to own him. He wanted this human for himself. These thoughts were more than unusual to him, but he had begun to dream of Lance. About his tall, slender yet muscular body. Beautiful and yet deadly. From his glittering azure eyes that seemed as far as the ocean beyond his forest. His mischievous grin and how he challenged him again and again. The warrior didn’t  want to leave his thoughts at all. He claimed Keith's full attention. He fascinated him, it was like Lance had cast a spell on him.

  
Lance was so small and fragile.  
Inwardly, Keith had to laugh at the thought ... ok from a human's point of view that would not have been the case, but from a dragon’s point of view he was definitely tiny.  
Even though he was only slightly taller than Lance in his human form.  
Probably exactly like his dream image here before Dream-Lance. He had jet to test it out in reality.

  
Lance carefully reached out a hand and gently touched his fingertips to his chest. Gently, Keith closed his eyes and enjoyed the touch before he opened them again and looked directly into baby blue eyes.  
His breath caught and his eyes couldn’t wander from the beauty before him.  
The hand had stayed on the fire dragon's chest and he wanted nothing more than to taste more of the others touch.  
Demanding he looked at Lance and spoke his thoughts out loud.

  
"Come to me …"

  
As if freed from a spell Lance responded to his request and he was finally able to embrace him.  
The warrior's head found its place on the crook of his neck.  
Keith could not describe how right it felt.  
How right it felt to be so close to the other.  
How nice the gently caressing hands felt on his back.

  
Lance squeaked scared.

  
Keith looked at the other irritated.  
How did he scare Lance?  


  
~~~

 

The next few days passed between waking and feverish dreams for Lance.

  
Every time he closed his eyes, he dreamed of the handsome man with the black hair and bright amethyst eyes.  
In his dreams the man took care of him.  
He sat at his sickbed.  
Provided for his wounds.  
Wiped the sweat from his feverish forehead.  
And reassured him again and again that he would live if only he could endure the pain a little longer.  
So Lance endured it.

  
In his newest dream, the stranger, who had become so familiar to him, leaned down and kissed him tenderly.  
The guard wanted kisses to feel the same way in real life. Soft and delicate and light as a feather. The kiss left his whole body tingling.

  
Whenever he woke up, the mysterious stranger disappeared and Lance remained longing for more. He wished so much that the other man was to be found in reality. That he could actually meet him.

  
But even if the fever tormented him, the thought that he was stuck in the cave of the Red and his search for Allura paused tormented him many times more.  
He had promised his clan to free her.  
He had promised himself.  
It was his job.  
Lance felt so useless ... so dreadfully useless.  
How he was dreaming instead of planning his escape from the cave.  
  
  
Once again, Lance drifted off into a restless sleep.  
He dreamed again.

  
The familiar stranger sat at his bed of furs and gently stroked his hair.  
His strong hand was pleasantly cool on his feverish forehead and the touch was almost lovingly. He could have just spent hours lying and enjoying the others touch. But he reached out hesitantly for the pale face and gently stroked the cheek of the stranger.  
The man looked at him and smiled slightly.  
Lance smiled back, his hand moving from his cheek to the stranger's neck and he gently lowered the others head to himself.  
The black-haired man was surprisingly easy to guide. He did not resist the grip of the water dragon at all.

  
Their lips touched tenderly.  
The kiss was as light as a feather and yet Lance's whole body reacted.  
He wanted more, so much more.  
And suddenly he felt a tongue gently brushing his lips and begging for entry.  
Reluctantly, Lance opened his lips and the tongue penetrated his mouth, gently licking his teeth and playing with his own tongue. They turned back and forth, entwined in a struggle for the upper hand.  
Lance moaned - it felt so good.  
He wanted to get even closer to the other.

He wanted that this kiss never ended.  
Just when he wanted to close his arms around the stranger disappeared and Lance fell.

He hit the ground painfully.

He had fallen from his bed.

  
Crap.

  
He groaned and just kept laying there.

 

The guard heard a laugh.

  
Deep and resounding, he was immediately aware of who this sound belonged to.  
The dragon stood at the entrance to the bedchamber and looked down at Lance.

  
"You look like a bug on its back."

  
Lance looked at the dragon insulted. The dragon only laughed harder.

  
"And you salamander could help me up instead of laughing at me." Lance was playing insulted and puffed his cheeks a little.

  
He was now used to the fire dragons teasing. They bickered with each other as often as possible. He even started liking the little quarrels. He even started liking the fire dragon.  
Lance shook off the thought.  
No. He definitely did not like the firedragon - he was one of the Galra. The enemy.

That he saved Lance was a mystery, but it did not change that fact.

  
His wounds were still hurting, but the fever was already fading.  
While Keith handed him a helping claw, Lance asked.  
"How long will it take till I can continue my journey?"

  
"You will not leave until you are completely healed." Keith stated determined.  


"Listen Red, it's important that I move on as soon as I can. You can’t hold me here forever." Returned Lance toxic.

"I did not save you so you could kill yourself by traveling with fever and unhealed wounds, ungrateful warrior!" Keith snapped in a thunderous voice.

  
Lance blushed.

  
Was he really ungrateful?  
Yes, from the dragon’s  point of view he had to appear ungrateful, after all he did not know the whole story.  
Lance looked away, unable to withstand the fierce look of the fire dragon.

  
"I'm sorry ..." he murmured.  
"I'm on a very important journey ..." Lance finally began.

  
It was time to give the Red Dragon an explanation. Maybe not the whole truth, but at least part of it.  
"A journey to free a friend. She was abducted by the Galra, and if I don’t  find her soon, no one can tell her what they will do to her. "  
He met Keith's eyes pleading.  
"I have to go as fast as I can."

  
The dragon sighed.  
"Is that why the Galra Squad attacked you?"

  
"Yes ... no ... partly..." Lance stammered, he didn’t want to lie to the other dragon, but he also didn’t want to reveal his secret.

  
"What of it?" Keith asked with interest.

  
"I can’t tell you ... you are a fire dragon ..."

  
"What does me being a fire dragon have to do with that?"

  
"You are Galra!"

Lance looked Keith straight in the eye. Now it was out in the open.

  
"The Galra are descended from the Fire Dragons and everyone knows that the remaining Fire Dragons belong to the Galra."

  
Anger, rage, fury all this emotions spreading across Keith's face.  
The torches in the chamber flared brightly and smoke rose from his nostrils.

  
"How dare you human! I'm not a Galra! Just because I'm a fire dragon doesn’t mean that I'm on the side of these bastards. You could not be farer from the truth. I hate the Galra! "The dragon growled and his voice echoed menacingly from the walls of the cave.

  
Lance shuddered as the Dragon's words kept going through his mind over and over again.

  
_'I hate the Galra, I hate the Galra, hate the Galra, hate Galra ...'_

  
Astonished, he looked up at the raging dragon.  
"Are they not your family?" Lance asked hesitantly.

  
Keith's smoking head was now right in front of him.  
"No! The Galra have destroyed everything. They destroyed my family. They killed my father just because he was not Galra, kidnapped my mother and seriously injured my brother while he saved me. We managed to escape, but the Galra are barbaric creatures with whom I have nothing to do. "  


Eyes wide, Lance stared at the fire dragon.  
That explained so much.  
Why he had saved him.  
Why he had not helped the Galra soldiers.  
Why he was still alive in the cave of a fire dragon.  
Guilt overcame Lance.

  
He had blamed the fire dragon, even though he had taken care of him from the start.  
So many prejudices, that had just been mean of him.  
He was close to tears.

  
"I'm sorry." Sniffled Lance.  
Determined, he smoothed his hand gently over Keith's scaly cheek.  
"I'm sorry." He repeated, firmer this time.  
And indeed, the anger left the face of the fire dragon.

  
"Thank you Keith, Thanks for helping me – that you are still helping me." Lance didn’t  know what else to say.

  
The dragon grinned so broadly that his sharp teeth could be seen.

  
"Oh, don’t thank me too soon Lance, who knows what I'll ask for in return."  


Relief went through Lance. The anger and rage had completely left the fire dragon and he was joking again.

  
"I could offer you gold?"

  
Or was he not kidding?

  
"Or knowledge? Is there anything you always wanted to know? "

  
It was hard to judge.

  
The dragon was still grinning.

  
"Oh little human, I have enough riches and what I really want to know you can’t possibly answer me, but I always have need for virgin sacrifices ..." joked Keith.

  
"W…W…What?" Lance stuttered as he turned bright red.

  
Should that be an innuendo? Did Keith know that he was still a virgin? Did the fire dragon want to eat him?

  
"That was just a joke Lance ... virgin sacrifices are old tales people came up with about us dragons."

  
That relieved Lance, who knew what sort of traditions fire dragons had. Just because his people didn’t sacrificed humans did not mean that the fire dragons didn’t.


	6. The Treasure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is about to find out that firedragons realy do hoard treasures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a quick fillerchapter.  
> That scene just didn't leaf my mind so i had to write it down.
> 
> And as always: please enjoy ;3

Every time Lance got a little better, he asked Keith when he was ready to continue his journey.

  
And every time Keith replied that he would not let him go until his wounds had completely healed.

  
But secretly Keith didn’t want to let him go at all. He had become accustomed to the presence of the human. He liked their conversations and their little quarrels. He liked his laugh and he hated the thought that Lance would leave him soon.

  
Pidge said Lance healed amazingly fast. She came regularly to bring salves for his wounds and to look after her patient.  
It was a mystery to Keith, but Lance and Pidge had become friends at their first meeting, in a strange way it seemed like they had always been friends. When he saw them happy together, a stinging pain awoke in his chest and tormented him.  
It stung when Lance laughed at something Pidge had said.  
It stung when he ruffled her hair just to annoy her.  
It stung when he scolded Keith for calling Pidge a witch again.  
One day the warrior would leave him and return to the other humans together with the witch.  
This was all Keith knew and he knew he would let him go.

Still, the Fire Dragon could not help but hold on to the idea that Lance stayed with him - voluntarily. That he was allowed to keep him to himself.  
  
~~~  
  
Lance's fever was gone.

But his wounds were still tormenting him and he was incredibly bored.  
The fire dragon did not always have time for him and was often very silent. Movements were still hard for Lance, but if he had at least something to occupy his mind with, boredom would be easier to bear.

  
Currently his thoughts revolved around his mission. He knew that at the moment he could do nothing but his mind didn’t want to calm down. It would drive him crazy if he did not find distraction soon.

  
When Keith visited him a little later, he seized the opportunity.

  
"Fire Dragon, do you have something to read for me?"

  
A book would be perfect to distract his thoughts.

  
"…Something to read?" The fire dragon asked in astonishment.

  
Oh, did a fire dragon read? Was that important to them?  
Water dragons loved books. Stories - true and untrue, legends from ancient times, writings about new developments in the world and everything that gave them more knowledge.

  
"Yes, fire dragon, a book or something like that, are you reading?"

  
"Sometimes." The dragon answered.

  
"Follow me." He addressed him.

  
Lance tried to get up, but at the first step out of bed a searing pain shot through his leg. He couldn’t prevent a faint whimper escaping him. The dragon in front of him must have noticed, because shortly after the tail of the dragon wound around Lance's middle and lifted him gently off the ground.  
"I'm sorry, I’ve forgotten ..." It murmured in front of him as the dragon carried him through the endless corridors of his cave. Deeper and deeper into the depths of the mountain. If he left him here alone, Lance would not find his way back.  
  
~~~

Meanwhile, Keith wondered what he was doing.

  
"Follow me. - Great idea Keith! Ask an invalid to limp after you."

  
Now he carried Lance in the grip of his tail through the corridors of his dwelling.

Why was he doing something so stupid?  
Wouldn’t  it have been enough for him to just bring a few books ...  
How had he come up with the idea of taking a human into his domain? To a place that no human should ever see.

No dragon would ever voluntarily leave a human near his treasure.  
To hoard treasures  ... it was in his blood and Keith had hoarded a considerable treasure and nothing and no one except him should ever see this and yet ...  
... and yet he brought Lance straight to his treasury.

  
He led a human to his treasure, himself - voluntarily.  
What was he even thinking?

  
People were greedy.

Once they knew of his treasure, the hunt for his riches would begin.

  
He turned the next bend and entered the large chamber in front of them.

  
Seemingly endless mountains of gold and other riches lay before them, brightly lit by the torchlight.

  
He carefully set Lance down.

  
He waited.  
Awaiting a reaction from the warrior.  
But the human was silent.  
  
~~~

The guard looked around curiously.

  
A treasury, a real treasury...

  
He never thought that there were actually dragons hoarding treasures.

  
He had thought it was a rumor that humans had thought up to justify their hunt for dragons.  
But now he stood here in the middle of the overflowing treasury of a fire dragon.

  
Lance laughed.  
"Wow - dragons hoard treasures really? I always thought that was a rumor. And what are you doing with all the gold here in your Cave Keith? Do you sit on it and count the coins at night? "

  
He knew he was teasing the fire dragon, he just couldn’t  resist the urge. What did the dragon even want with so many riches?

  
"No ..." the red returned grumpily. "It's more like a collection?" He admitted half-questioningly, as if he was not sure himself.

 

  
A collection.

  
Lance could understand that.

  
His people collected knowledge. So to speak, the huge library on Oriande was also a treasury.  
A treasure chamber full of knowledge.  
Lance chuckled.  
Maybe their races were more similar than he thought.

  
"Do you know Keith ... it's really cold in here. Where are the books?"  
  
~~~  
  
Keith stared open-mouthed at the warrior.

  
Lance did not seem interested in all the gold, the sparkling diamonds and the noble weapons - he just asked for books.

  
This confused the fire dragon.

  
Unconsciously, he let the torches in the cave shine brighter to heat the room.  
He lifted Lance again and set him down in front of a large wooden bookcase to the side of the room.

  
Lance looked at the books with interest, without even glancing at the jewels around him.

  
'What a strange person'

  
The human grabbed a few books.  


"They should be enough for the time being, thank you Keith."

  
Awakened out of his trance, he looked down at Lance again.

  
"Is it just boredom or do you really like to read?" He asked curiously.

  
"Both." Lance answered him with a big grin. "I've always liked books."  
"Can we go back now? It's cold. "Lance urged him on.

  
Keith's gaze caught Lance's still half-naked body ... covered only with a light coat.  
Redness rose to his face and he was glad that his scales hid it.

  
"Wait…"

  
Searching, he felt with his paws through a nearby pile of gold and pulled out a wooden chest.  
"Choose something to wear first."  
With these words he opened the chest.  
  
~~~

A chest full of clothes.

  
He could not believe it!

  
For days he lay half naked on his bed and the Red hadn’t even considered bringing him clothes.  


Stunned, Lance looked up at the dragon.

  
"You have clothes! Why are you only showing me them now?"

  
The dragon was about to answer, but Lance interrupted him directly.

  
"Doesn’t matter ... do you have a mirror?"

  
Wordlessly, the dragon's claws dropped a large mirror next to Lance.

  
He couldn’t  help but notice how battered his body looked.  
His fever might have disappeared, but the wounds on his shoulder and side still looked bad. They would leave scars behind.

  
He was proud of his smooth skin - Lance hated scars.

  
As he turned back to the box of clothes, his mood abruptly improved.  
He grinned.  
The first piece of cloth was a noble ball gown. Worthy of a princess with wide skirts and pearl embroidered.

  
His grin widened.  
That was also an way to pass the time.  
He looked back at Keith.

  
"Make yourself comfortable Red." He turned to him, ignoring Keith's puzzled expression.  
But the Fire Dragon did as he was told, sitting down on a nearby pile of gold and watching Lance as he simply stripped off his coat.  
  
~~~  
  
Keith's eyes grew big.

  
The man before him was completely naked.  
Yes, he had already seen him naked.  
But didn’t people normally have more sense of shame?  
Or didn’t he care because Keith was a dragon?  
Wasn’t it more dangerous to strip in front of a dragon?

  
It was dangerous.  
Keith wanted nothing more than to lick the warrior's wounds. To assure him that everything would be fine again.  
As Keith chased after his thoughts, he watched the play of muscles on Lance's back as he covered himself with the ball gown.

  
He swallowed: Lance was beautiful.  
He had to admit it. Lance could wear the dress - countless layers of blue and white silk embroidered with beads which caught the light of the torches. The broad armcuffs the warrior always wore seemed to complement the dress perfectly.

  
Keith was fascinated.

  
Lance turned in front of the mirror and curtsey in Keith's direction while a broad grin graced his face.

  
"Y…You can’t be serious Lance! You really want to wear that? "He asked, slightly shaken.

  
"Noble lord, would you do me the honor of a dance?" Lance asked chastely, batting his eyelashes before dropping into a curtsey again.

  
And Lance laughed again.  
Keith thought it was a nice laugh.  
So happy and refreshing.

  
"No, of course not. But when do you have the opportunity to try such a nice ball gown ... "  
While Lance spoke, he started changing clothes.

  
The next piece was a simple cotton dress of a maid. Dark blue, the hem embroidered with simple floral patterns.  
Not bad either, Keith thought.  
Lance changed again.

  
In a warrior uniform with armor. The armor looked so unnatural on him, and Keith didn’t  know why, after all Lance was a warrior.

  
He remembered back then when he saw him for the first time, Lance had fought ... without an armor.  
Yes, his warrior was tired of life, Keith decided. He fought with Galra … without armor.  
Lance changed from one outfit to the next, turning back and forth in front of the mirror, always presenting his selection to Keith with another witty character improvisation.

  
Keith had fun.  
He didn’t know when he had been so happy the last time.  
And he could have gone on forever and ever, but Lance's growling stomach was interrupting them.  
Lance chose simple black harem pants similar to his old ones and a long blue linen gown with slits on the sides that reached down to his hips.

  
Keith had asked him why he hadn’t chosen some of the classier clothes and Lance had just shrugged his shoulders and said that these clothes were the most comfortable to move around in.

  
They left the treasury without Lance even paying any attention to the riches or asking Keith if he could take more than just the books.

  
Lance was a strange human.

Very strange, Keith decided.


	7. The Blacksmith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is frustrated that he can't walk and Keith got it bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is on the short side but i promise i will try to make the next one longer.

Groaning, Lance held onto the stone wall of the lair.

  
It was so incredibly exhausting to stand on his own legs.

  
He glanced back.  
Disillusioned he realized that he was only a few meters away from his sickbed. His right leg had suffered a deep wound from the fight and even though it seemed to heal well, he could barely stand on his leg without the pain plaguing him. He'd been shifting his weight on his left, healthy leg and using the stonewall as extra support, and yet his right leg was already shaking so much that he couldn’t stand on it anymore.

  
With a frustrated cry, Lance slid from the cold wall onto the floor.  
How could he ever travel again, when he couldn’t even stand on his own two legs, let alone walk.  


He had been stuck in the Cave of the Red for over a week now.  
Time he did not have. It could be Allura was already suffering. Time that his people did not have!  
Lance had to move on, he had to find out where they held Allura, he had to find the other guards, he had to rescue the princess.  
For over a week he had had no opportunity to send a message to his family. He should have sent a fish when he arrived on the mainland, but there was no time for that. His mother was certainly worried by this time.

Someone clearing his throat awaken him from his thoughts.

  
"What are you doing here?" asked the firedragon.  
"Going on a journey, as you can see ..." Lance replied cynically.

  
The look that his Savior sent him was indescribable. Something between anger and pity.

Lance could handle anger, but pity ... he was strong, a guard of his clan! He did not need pity!  
"I have to leave!" He added angrily and struggled to his feet again with a pain-stricken face.

  
A big red paw barred his way abruptly.  
"You're not going anywhere until you feel better!"  
"You have no right to order me around!" Lance yelled angrily at the dragon.  
"Oh, I can do that Lance - I'm a dragon!" Keith growled at him.

  
With one blow of his paw he pinned the guard to the wall, holding him between his claws and the cold stonewall.   
The waterdragon shuddered.  
He was hanging with his feet in the air, but it didn’t  bother him at all. The power and control of the other dragon was impressive. The grip was just solid enough to hold him in place without causing pain.  
Lance looked defiantly at Keith, he knew the firedragon had a soft core.

  
"And if you haven’t understood it yet, allow me to explain what that means ..."  
He scoffed and warm breath hit Lance's face. As the dragon's teeth were dangerously close and reflected the torchlight, Keith continued.  
"It means I'm taller and stronger than you, and if I wanted to, I could crush you under my paws at any time or just eat you."  
The fire dragon bared his teeth.

  
Violet meet blue as they both stared at each other.  
Lance wanted to scream, I'm a dragon, too! I do not need to be afraid of you! '. With that, his camouflage would be gone, so he remained silent.

  
When Keith realized that Lance was not about to give up, he huffed a small blaze in his direction. The fire licked at the tip of his nose just before it disappeared.

  
Lance shivered and a faint whimper escaped his throat, but he didn’t break eye contact.  
Inwardly, he cursed himself for letting the sound escape. The other dragon was dangerous, well…  Lance could not help but admit that he liked it. A lot. He enjoyed how he felt the power of the other, how he was completely at his mercy. The sharp claws that held him gently but firmly in place. The sharp teeth threatened but didn’t bite. The fire that had licked at him without hurting him. The harsh words that were meant to protect him. He enjoyed the other's attention.

  
Maybe a little too much.

  
Slowly a blush crept into his face and he looked ashamed to the ground. The water dragon was terrified of himself and his thoughts. That was not right. He had no time for such thoughts, only his mission should count.

  
Yet …

  
Lance realized that Keith had never done anything but help him. He had to apologize.  
"I shouldn’t have yelled at you" he mumbled, his eyes still turned to the ground.  
"What?" Asked the firedragon.  
"You were just worried about me. I'm so sorry. I overreacted. " Lance shrugged his shoulders and looked into Keith's astonished face.  
  
~~~

 

Caught, Keith looked to the side.

  
He was worried?

  
Now that Lance had said it, it was crystal clear.  
It had been years since he had worried about anyone, had cared for anyone beside himself and now, after only a few days together, he worried about Lance.

  
He couldn’t bear the thought that his warrior was leaving and couldn’t bear the fact that in his present condition he would be vulnerable to the Galra. Damn, Lance couldn’t even walk on his own legs. How did he want to travel? If he let him go now, that would be his certain death.

  
The worries gnawed at Keith.

  
He himself had taken a long time to recognize this and his human had seen through him in no time.  
He sighed and gently lowered Lance to the floor.

  
"Apology accepted."

  
He watched as relief spread across Lance's face and he smiled.

  
"I have an idea that would help you to walk better, but you have to promise me that you will stay here until your wounds are healed so far that you can safely travel."  
Keith's requesting met Lance's curious look.

  
Lance seemed to think for a while before answering him with a simple "Promise!" before giving him one of his broad Lance smiles.  
The dragon grunted pleased.  
"Wait until tomorrow I will need some help from the village ..."

  
~~~

 

To say Lance was nervous would have been an understatement.

  
In the early morning  the firedragon already had made his way to the village to pick up his friends.  
He had said that the two could help Lance, but Lance had no idea what the other dragon was up to.  
After all, he couldn’t possibly heal his wounds faster.

  
He frowned irritably.

  
Or could he? Did Keith know a waterdragon? As far as Lance knew, his kind was the only one that could produce magic for healing. Even among the water dragons only the most talented could heal severe wounds like his. Healing magic was moody and always required a sacrifice. Rather, a part of your own life energy had to be used to heal. It was dangerous, weakened or in the worst case killed the user.  
Even if Keith brought one of his kind to him, Lance wouldn’t let him heal him.  
  
  


He heard an unknown male voice echo through the corridor to the sleeping chamber.

  
"You brought a human here? Voluntary?! What's wrong with you man, do I know you at all?" The voice sounded amused and friendly.  
Lance spontaneously decided that he liked the warm undertone of the voice.

  
Shortly thereafter, three figures entered his room.  
Pidge stepped ahead. A smile crept on Lance's face. He liked the healer. She was very intelligent for a human and couldn’t be fooled by anyone. Qualities he appreciated.  
Next to her appeared another human.

  
He was tall, broad and muscular. The newcomer's skin was tanned, darker even than his own, brown hair framing his face, and the friendliest brown eyes Lance had ever seen eyed him.  
"Hey, I'm Hunk. Blacksmith of the village." Greeted the man friendly and stepped further into the room to make room for the dragon behind him.  
"Hello Hunk, I'm Lance. I'd love to get up, but I'm afraid that's just not possible. "Lance joked back and added.  
"Hello Pidge, I've already asked myself when I could see my favorite dwarf again."  
"Hey Lance, it’s not like you could get away from here." Pidge bit back.  
"Ouch." Replied Lance with mock dismay.

  
Hunk snorted loudly.

"Okay, let's get down to work. Let me see your leg Lance. "

  
While Lance was still wondering why the firedragon had brought a blacksmith from the village, Hunk already inspected his leg thoroughly. The blacksmith pulled a yellow ribbon out of his pocket and tied his hair out of his face with it before pulling a measuring tape out of the same bag.

Hunk quickly began to measure his leg and told Pidge to write down the measurements.  
Irritated, Lance watched them in action.

  
"And what will that be when it's done?" He asked to make sense of the situation.  
"A surprise." The Fire Dragon mysteriously commented from the background.  
He looked questioningly at Hunk.  
He just smiled at him and said "My lips are sealed."  
Pidge grinned, "Nope, I will not tell you either."  
And so he had no choice but to wait and see what the three had planned for him.  
  
  
The guard watched as Keith heated metal with his dragonflame, as Hunk formed it and as Pidge finally began putting the pieces together. To pass the time he asked Hunk and Pidge about their life in the village and the two willingly told him everything he wanted to know.

  
Of course, the question of Lance's own origins was brought up, and so he told them about his home, an island beyond the ocean without too much detail. But everyone was able to see how much his home meant to him. He told them about palm trees, wide white beaches, the coral reef, and the endless expanse of the ocean.

  
Slowly the metal structure took shape. On the side were strong struts connected by hinges, and at regular intervals wide leather bands wound around the struts, each with a buckle similar to what Lance had seen on belts. At the end of the structure was a small metal platform that looked like a stirrup, similar to the ones used on saddles.  
Pidge began to fix the framework to his leg by sliding the stirrup over his foot and fastening the leather straps tightly around his leg.

  
Oh.

  
They had built him a leg support.

  
Expectantly, three pairs of eyes looked at him.

  
"Go ahead and try it." Pidge finally demanded.  
Lance slowly got up from the bed. It hurt, but not nearly as much as before. The crutch distributed his weight evenly and ensured that his leg did not buckle.

  
Carefully, he took a step.

And then another…

And another.

  
The joints between the metal struts allowed him to move freely.

  
Truly touched, he looked to his helpers.

  
"Thank you…"

  
With these words he hugged Hunk and Pidge.  
He would never have thought that strangers would help him without compensation.  
The elders had warned him about humans, warning him that they were deceitful and evil, that they could not be trusted.  
It didn’t matter to Lance. These people helped him, even if they knew nothing about him.

  
He sniffled and looked up at the red dragon.

  
Carefully he took the steps that separated him and the fire dragons, then he joyfully fell around Keith's neck.  
"Thank you." He repeated deeply grateful and didn’t notice how the eyes of the dragon grew big and he started to smoke from his ears.  
He also didn’t notice Hunk and Pidge throwing in amazed looks at each other.  
Only when he heard their amused laughter he did slowly release paralyzed firedragon's neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed that Keith calls Lance his human or his warrior ... be assured that isn't an grammatical error its on purpose.


	8. The Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith offers to train Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So - sorry i didn't update faster and thank you for still reading this fic ;)  
> I have a full working shedule and writing to relaxe a littel so the updates will keep to be irregular.
> 
> This chapter is a littel bit longer than the last but still not really long .. i know, figures i'm just not cut out for writing long chapters.
> 
> As always have fun reading!

Lance lay on his bed and sighed. In the past few days he had become accustomed to using his brace. Now it was much easier to move in the endless winding corridors of the cave. He could not complain, after all, he was on his way to recovery and the books he borrowed from the dragon's treasury were quite exciting, and yet his bad conscience gnawed at him. It told him that he wasted his time just lying there and reading, he should at least do something useful ... but what to do? His options were terribly limited. The guard felt like a fish in the glass.

Reflecting, he put the book in his lap and stared at the ceiling.

The red dragon lying curled up beside his bed seemed to watch him.

Lance had noticed that he did that more often lately. More and more he got the impression that the firedragon had become his constant companion. More and more often he stayed in the same room as the guard, and it didn’t seem to bother him just to lie next to Lance and to doze off to himself. And more and more the two of them made conversation on these occasions. They even could talk for hours.

So Lance had learned that Keith had an older brother - Shiro, who had gone in search of her mother and had never returned. Keith seemed convinced that he had fallen into the Galra's clutches. But despite everything, the fire dragon was waiting for his return as he had promised his older brother. Lance had in turn told him about his family, of course he had omitted the details that would reveal them as water dragons ... and he even had told him a lot about Allura, his childhood friend, whom he now missed terribly and who was in need of rescue.

The firedragon cleared his throat and brought Lance back to reality from his thoughts.

"What's going on?" The fire dragon asked worriedly.

"I've been thinking about my family ... they're probably worried about me." Lance told him.

"And you are worried about them?" He asked, though it was clear that Keith already knew the answer to that.

Sighing, Lance affirmed Keith’s guess.

"I hate sitting here ... I know you mean well and I appreciate you helping me ..." Ashamed Lance looked at the wall again. His eyes shined warm in the torchlight.

"I feel so useless here." He admitted to Keith as well as to himself.

The firedragon studied him closely. He seemed to be internally wrestling with himself and finally muttering something Lance didn’t understand.

"Can you repeat that, please?" He asked curiously.

"You're well enough on your feet now ..." Keith started again, this time in a firm voice and loud enough for Lance to understand him clearly.

"... I promised you to help with the sword. If you want, we could start training. "

These simple sentences, just a few words, completely overwhelmed Lance. Speechless, he stared at Keith his mouth hanging wide open.

He immediately started back-pedalling, as if he suddenly felt embarrassed by his offer.

"I mean, only if you feel fit enough and of course we will not overwork you…"

The brunette could only laugh. He liked how honest the dragon was and how he cared if Lance wanted to train with him.

"Yes." He finally beamed at Keith between his laughter.

"I would like to train the sword with you. Finally doing something useful!”

He put his book aside and started to get up before a thought suddenly stopped him.

"Just a quick question…"

He stared intently at the dragon in front of him.

"How do you want to train the sword with me? You are a dragon ... you can’t even hold a sword yourself! "

Hearing that the red snorted mockingly.

"I offer to train with you and THIS is your first thought? To offend me? "

"Don’t make a fool out of yourself. Your claws do not look very sword-suitable. " stated Lance.

The huge dragon growled.

"Your skills with the sword are also unconvincing. Otherwise the outcome of your fight with the Galra would have been different. "

Ouch.

That did hurt.

"Better than a giant dragon with a toothpick in its claws ..." Lance spat back lame.

The two stared at each other angrily.

OK …

He did it again.

He bickered with the dragon…

... although he knew the dragon only wanted to cheer him up.

Damn it!

To his relief Lance heard the resigned sigh of his counterpart as he apologized.

"Lance ... I didn’t mean to sound so harsh. You’re a good fighter, just not good enough for a horde of Galra." The dragon admitted honestly.

Lance was about to answer, maybe something about how bad the firedragon was at apologizing, when he saw said dragon close his eyes and concentrate. A warm, reddish light surrounded the entire being of the firedragon as it seemed to grow smaller and smaller until the light slowly faded and released a short human silhouette instead of the great red dragon.

Short was the wrong description, on closer inspection Lance noticed that Keith still towered over him in his human form. Even if he assumed the other was only about a few inches taller.

But that wasn’t  the reason why he caught his breath.

He recognized the man standing in front of him.

He had seen him in his dreams many times.

Lance doubted his reasons.

How could that be?

He was a hundred percent sure that he had never seen Keith in his human form before.

He hadn’t even known that the other dragon was capable of shapeshifting into human form. As far as Lance knew, there were few clans that passed down the ability to change shape to their younger generations. The waterdragons all had to learn from an early age to maintain their camouflage, but why should a fire dragon voluntarily disguise as a weak human?

His thoughts raced at top speed and again and again he looked at the man in front of him from top to bottom.

Damn it.

He looked just as good as he remembered him from his dreams.

The raven-black hair fell softly over his shoulders, his lips were rosy, and his eyes shimmered in the same violet as the dragon's. Lance was mesmerized. His body was as big and muscular as he knew it from his dreams and his skin still held the flawless ivory like in his dreams …

... Would he feel like in his dreams too?

Lance was trying to find out. He slowly began to raise his hand toward the other man, but was interrupted by his words.

"Did you stare enough?" Keith asked him amused.

"I was just wondering how anyone could have such a terrible hairstyle ... you need a haircut urgently." Lance tried to hide how embarrassed he was. Of course he didn’t mean anything he said in this moment. Keiht’s hair looked so soft and he had never seen another man suited more for long hair. He just wanted to bury his finger in the seemingly soft locks.

"Oh, and I thought you just never saw a dragon become human." Keith replied with a raised eyebrow.

Yes, well ...

... that might have been the first thing that would have crossed a humans mind. But Lance wasn’t human and Keith couldn’t possibly know that.

Even as Lance realized what was happening, his mouth continued to speak without his permission.

"I was just too distracted from the mat on your head, samurai."

"Samurai?" The black-haired man replied irritably.

"Great Swordmaster?" Lance joked and as Keith still looked at him with confusion, he continued.

"Whatever you prefer. Are we getting to work now? "

Still amazed at his new nickname, Keith could only nod and signal Lance to follow him.

 

~~~

 

Keith had been watching Lance for some time and it was amazing how quickly his body healed.

Sure, he didn’t know much about humans, but he knew that they were usually much more fragile.

He also saw how well his human had adjusted to his new brace. Every time he saw how well lance could walk with it he was happy he thought of something like this.

And he saw how his warrior was angry that he couldn’t do anything. Even if the books seemed to distract him.

Keith hadn’t thought about it long. It was a rushed decision.

If he was honest with himself, this was a spontaneous action to remind Lance that he had offered to improve his handling of the sword.

But the brunette had looked so sad when he talked about his family and Keith couldn’t help it.

He rushed right in … like the hothead he was.

What had he gotten himself into?

He had shown Lance his human form and the first thing his human noticed was his long hair.

Of course his warrior wouldn’t react like any other human, when had he ever done that. Keith thought about it cynically.

Yes, he didn’t care much about his appearance and didn’t care that his mane got longer and longer over time, but was it so vexing that it distracted from him, a dragon shaping into a human?

To say Keith was puzzled would have been an understatement.

Keith was more than irritated.

For days he had thought of how Lance would react if he showed him his human shape...

And all of it was in vain.

The warrior hadn’t  even been visibly surprised. Just stared at him for some time. Which was not what the dragon had expected at all.

Almost as if it was something quite ordinary to see the transformation of a dragon.

The firedragon had expected everything. Fright. Unbelief. Fear.

But just light wonder or even indifference, he had not thought of that.

It made him wonder if Lance had ever met a dragon before.

It was unlikely as rare as they were, but still within the realm of possibility. After all Lance had never shown any real fear for him. He was never intimidated by him and acted completely against people's natural instinct for escape.

Keith has never really met a person as strange as Lance.

He enjoyed the fearlessness of the other.

Entangled in his mind, Keith continued through the corridors of his dwelling until, after a sharp bend, he reached his armory.

Here he had also stowed Lance's own weapons which he handed over to him now and also grabbed a sword for himself randomly.

 

~~~

 

As they rounded the bend of one of the countless corridors, another large room opened in front of them.

Everywhere stood scaffolding with weapons of innumerable kinds, they hung on the walls and lay in chests in the corner. Lance was amazed at the mass of weapons gathered here. More than one army would need to be fully equipped. How in the world had Keith gotten all that stuff.

The question burned on Lance's tongue.

Was the fire dragon more bloodthirsty than he assumed?

Were those the weapons of countless warriors who had fallen victim to the dragon?

The water dragon didn’t want to imagine that. After all what the firedragon did for him, he liked to believe the other was a kind soul.

In the corner of his eye he caught outline of a very well-known crossbow and was about to reach for it when Keith handed it to him and shortly thereafter handed him his well-known short sword too.

He was relieved that he had his weapons back.

Without them he hadn’t felt like the guard he was. With his weapons, there was little to nothing that could frighten him.

Incidentally, he noticed that Keith also grabbed one of the swords. His choice seemed random. As if he did not care which weapon he was fighting with. Something Lance couldn’t imagine. He was convinced that a warrior had to build a relationship with his weapons in order to use them better.

Keith silently motioned for Lance to follow him.

The silence was strange and yet Lance did not know how to break it.

Too much was the astonishment that the man of his dreams ...

Yes, that sounded very cliché, but that's how it was.

So, the man of his dreams ran in front of him and Lance still couldn’t figure out how his mind was able to send an exact copy of the dragon in his human form into his dreams.

Or hadn’t all of it been a dream, and while Lance thought it was a feverdream, Keith had taken care of him in his human form?

And kissed him?

Lance shuddered, in a good way.

Could it be he hadn’t dreamed and everything had really happened?

He remembered how the fall from the bed had once interrupted a dream abruptly. Part of it was definitely a dream. But how much was a dream and what was reality?

The guard nervously chewed on his lower lip.

Should he just ask Keith?

Suddenly bright daylight met blue eyes and he had to pinch them together.

With suspicion he stepped outside.

Keith had led them to the exit of his lair.

They were standing where just over a week ago Lance's fierce fight against the Galra had taken place.

There were no bodies to be seen far and wide. It seems like Keith got rid of them.

The thought was kinda reassuring. No Galra-corpses rotting in front of the cave calmed Lance immensely.

He looked questioningly at Keith.

"We're training out here?"

"Yes, that's the most realistic and we have plenty of room ..." the fire dragon answered his question quick.

"And what if someone is listening or seeing us here?" Lance pointed out.

"That’s not going to happen, everyone around here knows that this is the red forest and they fear me. No one would voluntarily even go anywhere near this clearing. "

Keith sounded very confident and that was enough that Lance believed him.

They went a few steps further and the clearing opened, grew larger and a waterfall came into view.

The water sprang sparkling down the steep cliff face and into a raging river. Next to the waterfall was a large area of relatively short grass - an ideal training area.

Lance whistled appreciatively.

"Nice place samurai. Let's start?"

"OK. I attack you ... show me what you got! " Keith demanded.

As soon as Lance had taken his position he saw Keith rushing towards him, or should he say Keith’s shadow.

Lance could barely see him coming.

Never before had Lance seen a man move so fast.

And Keith's skill with the sword was unique.

Within seconds he had the edge of Keith’s sword at his throat.

The firedragon grinned at him.

"You didn’t even resist!" the other complained.

Lance wanted to defend himself, but only brought out a stuttered "Y ... you were too fast, I wasn’t prepared."

At that Keith laughed mockingly.

"The Galra will not ask you if you're ready or not."

Lance swallowed hard, the black-haired man had a point.

Soon Keith began giving him instructions on how to improve his posture and use his sword more skillfully.

After several attacks Lance got slowly used to the speed of the other and a few attempts later he even managed to parry one of Keith's attacks.

He grinned.

It was exhausting, but the fire dragon hadn’t promised too much: he definitely knew what he was doing.

Although Lance would never admit that, the training actually helped him.

 

~~~

 

Lance listened carefully to his instructions and quickly learned the fighting techniques Keith explained to him.

Everything he was shown he seemed to absorb like a sponge.

Keith never thought it would be that easy to teach Lance.

He watched Lance move.

Quickly detected errors in his sword guidance and positioning and corrected them.

The sun was now high on the horizon and they were both out of breath from the many hours of training.

Sweat was running down his forehead and he was about to take a break as he watched Lance take off his shirt and continue to fight against him, shirtless.

Keith couldn’t help himself but to get distracted from the other's muscle play. The beads of sweat shimmered on the tanned skin in the sunlight and it was as if Lance was shining. Keith found it increasingly difficult to focus on his sword and the fight.

He had to remind himself why he did this.

To prepare Lance for the Galra. To protect him.

No more and no less.

At least that's what he tried to tell himself.

But with the next blow of Lance's sword Keith stumbled backwards and with a loud splash he landed in the rushing river.

He splashed around in panic.

He couldn’t swim.

He searched for support, anything he could hold onto, but only cold water was around him.

The river tore him under the surface.

Helpless, Keith realized how the masses of water pressed him deeper.

He struggled.

Nothing helped and in the meanwhile the last air escaped his lungs.

He was getting dizzy and he almost thought the bright blue eyes in front of him were an illusion. A lousy prank of his oxygen-underserved brain. But soon after, he felt soft lips pressed against his and felt his lungs filling with air again.

Lance was here.

Lance was under water.

 _'Idiot, he's going to die here with me!’_ Keith thought in panic.

Strong arms embraced him and carried him to the surface with ease, against the current and the deadly vortex of water.

As soon as they broke through the surface, Keith gasped for breath and clung to his warrior.

Lance had saved him!

 

~~~

 

Finally!

Lance had cornered Keith, but at the last moment he parried his slash.

Too late the waterdragon registered that Keith lost his balance and stumbled backwards into the raging river behind him.

Startled, Lance watched as the firedragon fell and was helplessly dragged along by the waters.

 _'He can’t swim'_ realized Lance and even if Keith could swim the water masses right here at the waterfall were too powerful, even for an experienced swimmer the current would be dangerous.

Without much thought Lance jumped into the river.

Changing into his half form while doing so.

His torso still had mostly human features, though he now had additional gills, and his legs had turned into a gigantic fishtail of shimmering blue.

With strong tail strokes he crossed the river in search of his trainer.

When he found Keith, his strength seemed to have already left him.

Lance swam in front of him, the firedragons purple eyes shining with recognition as he pressed his lips to Keith's to give him oxygen.

Determined, the water dragon wrapped its arms around the center of the drowning man and carried him to the surface.

Keith gasped for breath, clinging painfully to Lance as the waterdragon realized he had changed.

Into his half form.

With fishtail.

Definitely not human and definitely not beneficial to his camouflage.

_,Crap!'_

There was no way to hide his transformation from Keith unless he drowned the other here and now.

But Lance owed him his life and he saw the firedragon as a friend.

Inwardly resigned, the waterdragon swam to the safe shore and heaved Keith up the small embankment on the riverbank, then pulling himself out of the water.

His scaly tail glittered in the sun and shone in a variety of shades of blue.

Lance sighed.

He had missed the water.

But now everything was over.

He was unmasked.

Who knows what Keith would do to him after he knew that Lance was a waterdragon.

His kind was considered a rarity and if he was lucky enough he would just be sold on the slave market and not be sold in individual pieces. To some people each of his scales was worth a fortune. Lance shuddered by the mere thought of it.

He looked fearfully at Keith, who had regained his breath and stared at him in pure disbelief.

 

~~~

 

Keith lay on the bank, gasping for breath.

He could hardly believe it, he had escaped the floods.

Lance had fished him out of the water.

But how?

The fire dragon knew how dangerous the floods were around the waterfall and even good swimmers would go down helplessly here.

Looking for answers, he looked to Lance, who was still sitting on the riverbank.

His free upper body glistened wet in the sun, even more than before.

Keith's eyes fell on Lance's ears ... ears that weren’t ears, or at least not human ears. They were pointier and almost looked like delicate blueish fins that gently fluttered in the wind. He let his gaze wander further and noticed that the hand rested in the lap of the figure also had non-human characteristics. The individual fingers were connected by webs. And ... wait.

Lance's legs were blue.

Keith realized seconds later that leg was the wrong word.

On his hip just under the bellybutton of Lance's human torso his hips morphed into a long fishtail, the tails end still hung in the water of the river.

Occasionally, Keith saw a large fin swinging out of the water at its end.

What was going on here?

He heard a sad sigh from Lance and looked up at him.

Even his eyes had changed their hue.

Keith had never seen them so brightly azure before.

His breath caught.

The creature looked stunningly beautiful.

Myths of long forgotten water creatures flooded his head.

Beings who lived in the depths of the oceans, which have not been seen for centuries, which were considered legends.

 _‘Waterdragon '_ his brain supplied helpfully.

In the ancient myths, the water dragons were often described as watermen or women.

This description couldn’t apply better to Lance.

He looked otherworldly as he sat there on the water's edge surrounded by the blue sparkling of his scales.

Keith noticed that he was just staring at the other for a while and his brain urged his mouth to say something.

He finally managed to stutter out.

"W ... Waterdragon"

 _, Very intelligent Keith, so eloquent today. '_ he scolded himself directly after the word left him.


	9. The truth

How could that be?

Why hadn’t he noticed much earlier?

The signs had been there all the time.

Lance healed faster than humans could.

Lance had fight several Galra on his own, humans were very rarely that strong.

Lance wasn’t afraid of him although he was a dragon ...

... because he was a dragon himself.

Suddenly everything made so much more sense.

Lance was not just a strange human, no - his warrior was a dragon himself and a very rare water dragon on top.

Was that why Keith was attracted to his warrior - because he was a dragon too? One of his kind ... ok, not exactly of his kind, but more similar than other beings ever could be.

He had probably already suspected it subconsciously.

Keith quickly pushed the thought aside. In his life he had met several dragons and their descendants. With hatred he thought of the Galra. To him they were definitely not likeable just because they were descended from the fire dragons. Nor had he ever been attracted to other dragons.

But he had been attracted to Lance, to his warrior. Almost as if they were connected by an invisible bond and he had – against his nature - kept the other dragon healthy, protected him and let him live by his side. But the strange thing about it was that Keith had never once doubted that he was doing the right thing ... it felt right. As if the puzzle pieces of his universe were slowly finding their place.

He vaguely remembered a legend his mother had always told him and Shiro. The story of the dragons.

 

~~~~~~

 

_Long ago, Mother Earth created the dragons - majestic, strong, intelligent and imperishable rulers of the elements. They ruled the fate of the world, but the ravages of time belittled them and their power turned to greed for more power and finally turned to madness. To save the world, Mother Earth removed her power from the dragons, splitting their magic so that each dragon now had only the gift of one single element and further to protect the dragons from madness, she robbed them of their immortality but gave them something incomparably more valuable: love. Since that fateful time of their founding fathers, every dragon from birth on has had a soulmate, so the dragons don’t have to walk the earth alone. A soulmate who loves unconditionally and stands by the dragons side faithfully._

 

~~~~~~

 

Shiro had always asked his mother how to recognize a soulmate and he remembered exactly how his mother smiled each time and replied _, listen to your heart, it tells you when you meet the right person '_. Shiro had always believed that the soulmate-legend were indeed true and that their parents were such soulmates, but Keith had never believed the legend.

And now…

Now he doubted his own believes.

Now he wanted to believe that the legend was true.

Now he wished his heart was right and Lance was his soulmate.

His warrior.

But then why hadn’t Lance been honest with him?

Hadn’t  he felt the same way as Keith when their eyes first met.

Didn’t he feel their connection - the feeling of knowing each other forever.

Didn’t  he know that he could rely on Keith, unconditionally?

And even if he ignored all this, Keith had saved him, saved a stranger ...

So what reason did he have to lie to him?

Keith felt betrayed, cheated and above all, exploited. Lance, his human had grown on him, to see that he was a dragon like him shook him. But even more than the truth shook him the certainty that the other dragon hadn’t trusted him. Would he ever have told him the truth if his accident had never happened?

The thought gnawed at Keith. He wanted to believe that Lance would have told him the truth. But he did not believe it himself. He had seen the fear in the other's eyes.

He remembered Lance calling him Galra as the talked about his family. Actually, he should know that Keith didn’t work with the Galra. That he hated them as much as Lance did. It saddened him that Lance didn’t trust him. But what was he after all - in the end, only a stranger who had saved him on a whim. A whim of his heart that in recognized Lance as his mate.

The Fire Dragon wanted to believe that they were now more than strangers, even without the soulmate thing he thought he had found a friend in Lance. But it seemed like he was the only one who thought so. The thought struck Keith bitterly.

And even if he felt their connection?

If Lance was just careful?

Water dragons had after all  high bounties on their head and on the black market even a single scale would bring huge sums of money.

Maybe ... Yes, maybe Lance had just been careful, maybe he knew the danger he was in.

But Keith would never ...

He would never hurt his water dragon!

Never betray him.

Never deliver him to the Galra.

He knew that if he was aware of the danger Lance had every reason to mistrust other beings, including him - even if it hurt him.

As shocked as Lance looked at him it had to be that way.

He knew that he was in danger when he revealed himself to others.

He was aware of the danger ...

A wave of red anger rolled over Keith. If Lance was aware of the danger, why was he even here? Here where humans life right to the Galra Empire border. Didn’t he know how dangerous it was here? How could Lance have been so stupid as to voluntary come here? It would be so much wiser if he would hide. Maybe like the legends said, hide in the endless expanses of the oceans.

Lance was a real water dragon, and there were other water dragons, Keith concluded. Where were the others? Where was Lance's family? Where did he come from?

Through the chaos of all these questions, Keith saw a memory.

Lance telling him why he fought the Galra.

He told him about a childhood friend. That he was on the way to save her.

But Lance was traveling alone. How could he expose himself to such dangers?

And yet it could be understood. If he knew where Shiro was and would have the chance to free him, he would do the same. He would set off in spite of better reason. He would defy all dangers just to protect his family and friends. Lance had to do it too.

Determined, Keith took a step closer.

Saw the fear in Lance's eyes shimmer.

He saw his water dragon tensing his muscles.

Always ready to jump.

He almost laughed, of course Lance wanted to escape.

And was there a better way than a roaring river? He had already seen that Keith couldn’t swim.

Again, Keith sought eye contact, trying to calm the other. Carefully but surely he reached out to Lance.

 

~~~

 

He caught his breath.

Crap.

Damn crap.

Keith apparently knew enough about his kind to recognize him as a water dragon even in his half-transformed form.

He was caught.

Now there was no turning back. Nothing he could have done to fix his mistake. He could only wait to see how the fire dragon would react.

However, the fire dragon's face didn’t allow conclusions, Lance couldn’t even guess what was going on inside the other one, now that he had realized that he had rescued a water dragon from the Galra.

Yeah, that had to be a shock. If the Galra ever knew that, Keith was finished. He had hidden a water dragon in front of them that alone was considered high treason and Lance was sure that he was not worth it.

He would probably kill him ...

Kill and sell him in parts on the black market so that the Galra never got wind that one of them had betrayed them. Lance thought back to the fire dragon's treasure. Alone for his scales he would get a lot gold. Gold and other riches he could hoard in his treasury.

Lance suddenly felt very sick.

But ... would Keith actually do that?

He recalled how vehemently the Fire Dragon had resisted being called Galra. How he had revealed that the Galra had destroyed his family.

He remembered how many times Keith had helped him.

He had let a completely stranger in his home and even nursed him, had given him food and shelter. He had asked his friends to build a crutch for him. He had given him sword training.

And they had got along well, in a strange way, between little quarrels and comfortable silence.

Lance had never once been really scared that the fire dragon could hurt him. Something told him that Keith was different, that he could trust him. The feeling he had had from the beginning since he looked him in the eye for the first time after the battle. Still, Lance had lied to him, or rather left out a few important details about his origins.

Keith surely felt betrayed.

Lance shivered.

Would the fire dragon forgive him?

Maybe because he just saved his life. So they were even?

He saw Keith taking a step towards him and panic overcame him.

One more step closer ...

Lance searched feverishly for an escape, but the only way left was to jump back into the roaring river. He wanted to jump, was just about to push his hands away from the grassy edge as the hands of the fire dragon landed heavily on his shoulders, holding him in place.

Pure panic seized him as Keith looked him in the eye and Lance began to fight back.

"You're an idiot Lance!" He yelled angrily.

This immediately stiffened the water dragon.

"What’s the stupid idea of traveling so close to the borders of the Galra Empire? As a water dragon? Alone? Are you crazy? Don’t you know how dangerous that is? **You could have died!** "

Lance blinked in surprise. Keith had grown louder and louder while talking in rage.

_Wait…_

Keith was angry because he was in danger?

He was worried?

Lance blinked again.

Surprised, he looked at the foaming fire dragon in front of him.

Could Lance actually trust him, could he accept Keith as a friend, could he really rely on him?

"I ... err ... so ..." he stammered for an explanation.

A rustling in the nearby bushes interrupted him harshly.

Lance only noticed Keith grab his sword and stand protecting in front of him.

"Who is there?" His voice boomed, but he received no answer.

Tense, the two looked over to the tree line. Which monster hid in the bushes? The Galra? Humans? Another unknown threat?

It rustled again.

And a squirrel scurried out of the branches, only to disappear again shortly thereafter.

Lance looked back and forth between Keith and the squirrel, only to finally burst into laughter.

Keith looked at him slightly pissed and Lance could not help but to laugh even louder. He held his side, chuckling.

"Hahaha, Keith, you protect me from a squirrel ... oh, noble knight without your help I would never have survived the attack of this beast!"

"You can never be secure enough!" pouted Keith.

He hadn’t expected that. Everything,  just not for a fire dragon to worry about him, worrying about his safety and even going so far as to protect him. Even if it was from a tiny squirrel.

If Lance hadn’t shook with laughter he would have been speechless and that was a rarity for him.

Sighing, Keith sat down beside him and eyed Lance from the side.

 When he calmed down, Lance looked back.

"Are you worried about me?"

"Of course I'm worried, we're friends after all!" It came back indignantly.

Friends, huh?

Lance couldn’t hold back a big grin.

"And you are not angry that I kept this little secret from you?"

"Oh, I'm pissed!" Keith growled at him.

"But I can understand why you did it ..." he continued.

"Just to make sure: you won’t kill me and sell off my pieces or deliver me to the Galra?" Lance asked.

Keith just looked at him amused.

"No, Lance. I would never do that! The Galra are as much my enemies as they are yours. "

Relieved, Lance slumped against the larger one's shoulder.

"Friends ..." he murmured.

"You have saved my life and I yours ... we are making a pretty good team, I would say."

Keith smiled warmly at him.

"Yes, we are a good team."

"I'm sorry I lied to you Keith." Lance apologized honestly.

The fire dragon calmly put his arm around Lance's shoulders.

"Keith?"

"Hmm?"

"Since we are such a good team ... would you help me save Allura?" it bursts out of him.

"Allura? Your childhood friend? Is she a water dragon too? "

"Yes," Lance confirmed.

Keith thought for a while.

The minutes seemed to stretch endless. Lance already wondered if it had been a stupid idea to ask the fire dragon to accompany him.

Keith looked at him critically.

"I don’t know Lance ..."

The fire dragon looked out at the river for a while.

"I'll think it over." He finally said.

Disappointed, Lance looked at his tail fin. It would have been too nice.

Wait ... that wasn’t  a _‘no’_. So could he hope that Keith might accompany him?

"First I will train you in sword fighting and if your wounds are completely healed I'll give you my answer. Promise."

"Agreed."

Lance beamed.

He had won a friend and with Keith at his side he was slowly hoping that his mission could be successful.


End file.
